Webmeeting on a locked down Android (Kiosk Mode)

[MannyL]

Hi All,

We are a health center that is servicing a community that doesn't necessarily own smart devices. I have been tasked with providing a telehealth solution for our patients that are homebound due to COVID-19 and for other health reasons.

I have secured a Samsung tablet (Android 9 Pie) with Meraki Systems Manager using it as a Meraki Managed device (only apps that are whitelisted are installed) and I've allowed only Gmail and 3CX Webmeeting apps to be installed. So far I've run into 2 issues:

1) Without a browser installed, I cannot open the link in an email to subsequently open in the 3CX webmeeting app. I've temporary solved it by installing Chrome, but long-term, I don't want the device to have any browsing capabilities.
2) Once I join the meeting on the device, I can only maintain connectivity to meeting for 2-3 seconds and then the connection drops. Rejoining also only lasts for 2-3 seconds. This has been consistently tested and I have no idea why.

So, how do I force link to open without browser and why does connection drop?

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi @MannyL

At the moment the browser is necessary to launch a meeting.

As for the disconnection, if you factory reset a device, do not secure it with Policies, and just run webmeeting as an average user would on their phone, does it still disconnect?

On your personal mobile phone, while connected to the same wifi as the tablet, do you also face the issue?

What about when on 4G for example?

 

[MannyL]

Tried with unmanaged device, doesn't have any disconnect issues using same internet method.

I suspect that some basic things are not installed or being permitted with the managed device as It doesn't even install the usual suite of basic android and Samsung device software. If I can get a hint on the requirements , I can whitelist/install them.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Don't manage it using Meraki and instead manage it via GSuite
https://www.3cx.com/blog/docs/android-app-g-suite/

See if you have better luck that way, The requirements are what the app asks as permissions but I'm not sure how Meraki implements the management. It could be blocking actual connections.