Custom B2B Versions of Kiosk Pro: What’s Required from the Client

Custom B2B versions are often a good fit for larger projects or projects with specific purchasing requirements as they include options for version control, rebranding, launch behavior, and volume discounts when purchasing through Kiosk Group directly.  More information about how these versions work is available here. 

Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager Organization Name & ID

required

Your Organization Name & ID can be found in your Apple Business Manager portal or Apple School Manager portal under your profile (bottom left corner) > Preferences > Organization Information.

The Name & ID submitted must exactly match what is in your ABM or ASM account, including capitalization, punctuation, and spacing.

Home Screen Name

required

The app’s home screen name is what is shown on the device's Home screen once it is installed.

The number of characters available depends on character width so the easiest way to confirm that a name won't be cut off is to create a folder on the iPad by dragging one app icon onto another on your Home screen and renaming the resulting folder.

If you need to change this at some point, we can do that - we include one home screen name and/or icon change a year as part of the annual rebranding fee. If you need to change it more frequently, this would be charged at our standard rate for app development.

App Store Connect Name

required, 30 characters or less

The app’s App Store Connect name is used to identify the app in App Store Connect when we submit it to Apple. This name is shown when the app is purchased through Apple Business Manager and when a redemption code is used to install the app.

While it can be the same as the app home screen name, you can also provide a longer or more specific app name for use in App Store Connect.

The App Store Connect Name must be specific to your app.  If the name selected is already being used by another app, we will use a variation of this name for identification in App Store Connect. If you would like to provide one or more variations in case this occurs, we’re happy to accommodate.

Once we have created the app's metadata in App Store Connect, the App Store Connect app name cannot be changed or used in the future for other apps on the App Store so you may want to consider making the name of the app specific to kiosk use. For example, a business might choose to use “Jeni’s Ice Cream” or “KP for Jeni’s” as the display app name and “Kiosk Pro for Jeni’s Ice Cream” for the App Store Connect app name.

Description

required

This description is used in App Store Connect to help Apple's review team understand how the app will be used.

Example: 

BioSense is a breakthrough point-of-care screening system that empowers patients to take charge of their health by measuring and monitoring their own biomarkers. 

The service combines quick and accurate on-site blood analysis with a simple and secure web app for accessing results. BioSense allows users to clearly identify potential health risks then take steps towards improving their health with the support of their doctor, pharmacist and other experts.

This kiosk application allows visitors to load results from point-of-care analyzers at a secure on-site iPad kiosk.  This app is designed for use on dedicated, single-purpose iPads owned and operated by BioSense as public kiosks.  As a custom B2B app, this will not be distributed to the general public.  

Icon

optional if using Kiosk Pro’s standard app icon, otherwise as outlined below

App icon for App Store Connect and the Home screen is required as a 1024 x 1024 pixel .PNG file with square 90-degree corners (as Apple automatically applies its own shape masking).

The icon should be provided as PNG. Avoid using interlacing and transparency. The standard bit depth for these images is 24 bits (8 bits each for red, green, and blue) plus an 8-bit alpha channel. You do not need to constrain your palette to web-safe colors.

Screenshots

optional - if custom screenshots are not provided, Kiosk Pro’s standard screenshots will be used

In modern versions of iOS and iPadOS, screenshots do not appear to be shown for custom B2B apps during purchase in Apple Business Manager, installation or update. As app listings are controlled by Apple, this may change without warning in the future. Regardless of this omission, screenshots are still required for us to submit the build for review without triggering an error.

If the custom B2B version is to be submitted as a universal app, meaning that it can be installed on iPhones as well as iPads, Apple requires us to submit at least 1 screenshot at each of the following resolutions:

To take a screenshot directly on a device, press and hold the Home button and then tap the power button - the screen will flash white to indicate that a screenshot has been taken. On devices without a Home button, screenshots can be triggered by holding the power button and tapping the volume down button. Screenshots can be emailed from the Photos app or can be downloaded by connecting to a desktop.

Edited screenshots are a bit of a grey area - Apple's guidelines suggest using non-edited screenshots of your app, but as you've noticed a number of apps (including ours) use edited screenshots to provide more information about an app.

This does have the potential to cause delays in the review process if the review team decides to flag it. Two things we recommend being careful about including are:

• product shots of the actual device - if you include an iOS/iPadOS device in a screenshot, make sure it's the latest version of that device.
• shots that show your interface at an extreme angle.

If you are providing edited screenshots, please provide them in .JPG format.

URL for Remote Settings Control

optional if manually configuring the app or configuring through Managed App Configuration, otherwise as outlined below

The ability to preconfigure a URL for remote settings control is one of the benefits of rebranding, simplifying deployment in the field.  

A remote settings control URL is required for several of the preferred launch behaviors outlined in the next section. 

If you aren’t familiar with the Remote Settings Control feature, you can find out more here in our knowledge base.

If you prefer not to use Remote Settings Control, we highly encourage providing a video demonstration of a configured kiosk and content (see next section) to prevent delays in the review process.

Content

initially optional, but recommended and potentially required by Apple

Apple’s review team has increasingly wanted to see how the app functions in use with the end user’s content in place.

If the Remote Settings Control configures the app in such a way that the app requires a username/password to view specific content, you must provide us with a sample/demo login for Apple’s Review Team.

In addition, if there is any reason that Apple’s team would not be able to view your content (for example, if it is hosted on a local network or is configured through Managed App Configuration which they wouldn’t have access to), we highly recommend providing a video demonstration that we can include in our notes to the review team.  

The video demonstration does not need to be production quality and will not be shared with anyone other than Apple review.  The primary requirement is to show the kiosk's purpose and how it will be used. 

While we can submit initially without a video demonstration of content, this may cause a delay in the review process as this has been an increasingly frequent cause of rejections (even for users providing a demo login). 

When making these in-house, we frequently use the screen recording feature built into iOS/iPadOS 13 or later. Alternately, you can simply take a video of a user interacting with the actual iPad, taking care to make sure the screen is clear and visible. 

Preferred Launch Behavior

optional if you want to use Kiosk Pro's default launch behavior, otherwise required

You can decide how you want Kiosk Pro to launch after it is first installed and opened.  Options include: 

Show app settings

As currently shown with standard iTunes builds.  The user can edit settings initially following install before running the kiosk presentation. 

Show a prompt to enter a unique iPad ID

App settings are not shown, following the user entering the unique iPad ID, the app displays a plain, black loading screen while the rest of the settings are applied through Remote Settings Control or Managed App Configuration. 

For example, this may be useful for a customer installing remotely where they need to be able to identify the kiosk, but wouldn't want/need the employee on location to be able to change other settings. 

Launch directly into the presentation

The app displays a plain, black loading screen while the rest of the settings are applied from a remote .xml file or Managed App Configuration and the app launches directly to the homepage configured.

For example, this may be useful for someone sending a code for a sales presentation to a potential client. In this scenario, the device doesn't need to be identifiable, but only needs settings applied before the client can interact with the app.

Initial download period for locally stored content

If you are storing your content locally on the device, you can prevent Kiosk Pro from showing its default ‘File Not Found’ page while content is being downloaded initially by including the following key-value pairs in your settings .xml file or Managed App Configuration: 

<dict>
	<key>launchMode_waitFirstUpdateLocalContent</key>
	<true/>
</dict>
<dict>
	<key>launchMode_pageBackgroundColor</key>
	<string>0,0,0</string>
</dict><br>

Confirmation of Peripheral Devices

required for rebranding based on Enterprise only

Kiosk Pro Enterprise supports interaction with certain peripheral devices, including thermal kiosk printers and magnetic stripe card readers through our JavaScript SDK. 

Peripheral devices that have received official MFi certification from Apple require that the product manufacturer submits an official approval to Apple for any app integrating the SDK for their product. Apps that do not have this approval in place prior to submission to Apple are automatically rejected.

If your project is planning to use the JavaScript API to interact with any of the following devices, you must inform us with a written description of how the peripheral will be used prior to submission: 

• Star Micronics thermal printers
• Bixolon thermal printers
• Brother thermal printers
• IDTech card readers
• MagTek card readers
• Socket Mobile barcode/RFID scanners

As these approvals must be requested individually from each manufacturer and this is a time-consuming process for both parties involved, we do ask that you only request peripheral approvals for devices that are actually going to be implemented for the project. 

We reserve the right to request demonstration code to prove implementation if necessary. In addition, Apple may request a video showing the peripheral functioning as described as a part of the review process.

It is not appropriate to request peripheral approvals for testing purposes as the standard build of Kiosk Pro Enterprise from iTunes may be used for testing the JavaScript API for these peripherals. 

Peripheral approvals do delay the initial submission of the app while it is being approved. In our experience to date, this approval process generally takes 2 to 4 weeks for most manufacturers. If not included as a part of the initial app submission, individual peripheral approvals can be added as a part of a future update under the terms above.