Any way to prevent turning off wifi on iOS 11?

[DCalder]

We have iPads with children's games deployed in several of our libraries. Meraki MDM is used to arrange the icons on the home screen(s), etc. but we have a problem with the wifi being disabled on the devices, either inadvertently by children or deliberately by well-meaning but clueless parents. Safari has already been removed so kids won't get out on the Internet and the wifi is needed for Meraki to push new apps, remove old ones, and generally monitor the state of the iPads. While I can ask the branch staff to go re-enable wifi, sometimes the branch isn't open and maintenance has to be delayed for a day or two. Is there any way to prevent turning off the wifi (and block airplane mode)?

[PhilipDAth]

This isn't any help for you now ...

But if you consider future devices and you change over to Android Tablets you can use "Kiosk" mode.  This completely limits the device to running only the apps you specify and prevents the users from even getting to the settings.

https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Profiles_and_Settings/Android_Kiosk_Mode_in_Systems_Manager

[DCalder]

No, not helpful now and, based on previous experience with both Android and iOS, probably not in future either as I would not recommend switching to Android devices for this particular usage scenario. With this one exception, the iPads just work. They are very popular with the kids and the variety and quality of educational games and apps available for free is wider than what Android seems to offer.

[Melissa]

@DCalder Similarly to @PhilipDAth's point, if you could put the device in Single App mode the end user would not be able to get to the settings app to adjust/change the wifi settings....though I'm not sure if that is helpful. It wouldn't be if you need to give access to more than one app 😞

You could also use Wifi Whitelisting to only allow the device to connect to SM configured wifi networks - this is a restriction in Settings>Restrictions>Supervised devices. It would only allow the device to connect to wifi networks that have been set up using SM. You could then setup Network Usage policies (to restrict all apps from using cellular data - basically forcing the end user to turn the wifi back on. More on that here - https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Monitoring_and_Reporting/Cellular_Data_Management_with_Systems_M...

Hope that helps! 

[DCalder]

We use Autonomous Single App mode on iPads for searching the catalogue and it works fine for that purpose but it doesn't help in this situation as we have many different games and apps available for the kids to choose from. I think that they're using the Control Center to turn off wifi, not the Settings app.

We are using Wifi Whitelisting so that the iPads stay on our network where they are authenticated by MAC rather than jumping onto other nearby networks where they would be caught in splash pages or otherwise prevented from "phoning home". There is no cellular on these devices. They are only used in the branch.

[jared_f]

That is a very tough situation. A policy with email alerts would be helpful. Maybe you could send them to administration at each of the locations so they know the tablets are not communicating with Meraki and trigger that WiFi back on.

[PhilipDAth]

Thinking sideways; is there an app you could deploy which turns WiFi on whenever the user turns it off?

[Lafaunda500]

Thank you Melissa, this really helped our firm.  Perhaps there will be an update in the future to directly control the user's ability to change the wifi functionality?  Until then.... this will work.

Sincerely,

Lafaunda Latrice

Systems Admin

Marco & Associates LLC

[Melissa]

@Lafaunda500 I'm so glad it helped!

I will get a request for this submitted with Apple - the ability to block the user from turning off the wifi!

[jared_f]

This is an Apple limitation. Have you tried setting up a policy that requires devices to check in once a day? Have it alert you with an email notification.