Browser Engine
Apple requires third-party apps to use one of two native browser components to render and display web-based content. These browser components are a part of the iOS & iPadOS operating systems and are updated whenever you update your iPhone or iPad.
In this article
Browser Engine
Supported in:
Summary
Default Value:
- WKWebView (recommended)
Other Possible Values:
- UIWebView (legacy support)
WKWebView
WKWebView is the newer browser component and uses the same Nitro engine as mobile Safari. It is not currently possible to implement all app features in WKWebView and there are some known issues with this implementation, but it is significantly faster than UIWebView.
A complete list of non-supported features and known issues are available here.
UIWebView
UIWebView is the older of the two and is the browser component Kiosk Pro was initially developed on since its introduction. It uses a slower rendering and JavaScript engine than mobile Safari, but supports all app features.
Apple has officially deprecated the use of UIWebView and has announced that it will stop accepting app submissions containing UIWebView at a future date yet to be determined. For this reason, we highly recommend using the WKWebView browser engine.
To prepare users, we’ve added an alert when changing the Browser Engine to UIWebView. An alert will also appear the next two times the app is launched in UIWebView.
Values for Remote Settings Control & Managed App Configuration
| Key | kp_browserEngine |
|---|---|
| Key Type | integer |
| Default Value | 1 |
| Possible Values |
|
Cookie Acceptance Policy
Supported in:
This setting allows you to control when Kiosk Pro accepts cookies from sites when using the UIWebView browser engine.
Default Value:
- Accept From Visited
Other Possible Values:
- Never Accept
- Always Accept
The default setting is 'Accept From Visited', which only allows cookies to be set by domains the iPad goes to directly and is the most common setting for most browsers.
When using the WKWebView browser engine, the browser engine itself sets this policy - it cannot be user-defined. In testing, this appears to allow cookies from visited sites.
Values for Remote Settings Control & Managed App Configuration
| Key | cookieAcceptPolicy |
|---|---|
| Key Type | integer |
| Default Value | 1 |
| Possible Values |
|
Transform Links for Guided Access
Supported in:
This setting addresses a bug introduced in iOS 8 for Apple’s UIWebView browser where a link is touched while Guided Access is enabled, the message ‘Guided Access is enabled’ appears at the top of the screen.
Default Value: On
When this setting is turned on, it will transform certain links in your content so that this message does not appear. Links inside frames cannot be transformed as it causes display issues and will display the Guided Access message when selected. See our known issue for more details.
Disabling this setting is only recommended if you’re using Single App Mode or Autonomous Single App Mode to lock down your device or if you aren’t using Guided Access.
Values for Remote Settings Control & Managed App Configuration
| Key | kp_transformLinksForGuidedAccess |
|---|---|
| Key Type | boolean |
| Default Value | true |
Change Log
- Added to Plus & Enterprise in version 7.0. Added to Lite & Basic in version 8.1.