Kiosk Mode on macOS
Turn a Mac into a dedicated kiosk: your PandaSuite application opens at login in full screen, visitors cannot switch to other apps, and staff leave with an administrator password.
In kiosk mode, the application covers the whole screen and hides the Dock and the menu bar. While it runs, macOS app switching, Force Quit, and the Hide command are turned off.
Enable Kiosk Mode in the Export
- Open the DMG export form from the dashboard.
- Under Launch method, enable Kiosk mode.
- Generate the DMG, then install or reinstall the application on the Mac, in the Applications folder.
Applications exported before the Kiosk menu existed do not have it: if Control + Shift + K does nothing, export the application again and reinstall it.
Prepare the Mac
- Run the kiosk under a standard account, and keep a separate, password-protected administrator account: staff need an administrator name and password to leave kiosk mode.
- For the Mac to start straight into the application, turn on automatic login for the kiosk account in System Settings > Users & Groups. macOS does not offer automatic login while FileVault is on.
- Signed in to the kiosk account, turn off the shortcuts that open other macOS features over the kiosk, such as the Spotlight shortcut (System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts) and Hot Corners (System Settings > Desktop & Dock). These settings belong to each account, and System Settings is out of reach once kiosk mode runs.
Start in Kiosk Mode at Login
- Sign in to the kiosk account and launch the application.
- Press Control + Shift + K (Enable Kiosk Mode at Startup), then click Continue. The application is added to the account’s login items.
- macOS then shows a notification that a login item was added. Close it: it stays over the kiosk until someone does, and clicking it opens System Settings.
- Restart the Mac. Kiosk mode turns off the Apple menu, so hold the power button until the Mac turns off, then turn it on again. You should now see your application open on its own, in full screen.
Do not use Control + Shift + L to restart: it turns kiosk mode off at login.
The shortcuts use the Control key, not Command. If the application reports that macOS did not turn the login item on, leave kiosk mode with Control + Shift + L, switch the application on in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, then launch it again and press Control + Shift + K.
What Visitors Cannot Do
In kiosk mode, the application keeps visitors inside it:
- Keyboard shortcuts that quit the application, close, hide or minimize the window, leave full screen, reload the page, zoom, or open developer tools do nothing.
- Right-click does not open a menu.
- Links to other websites do not open, and downloads do not open the Finder.
- The page’s exit action is ignored: only staff leave, with the shortcut below.
Visitors cannot change the channel the kiosk opens on either: in kiosk mode, only a channel link opened with the dropdown set to Desktop changes it (see Dedicate a device to a channel). To change it, leave kiosk mode, open the channel’s link, then start kiosk mode again.
The page reloads if it crashes or stops responding, and tries again every 5 seconds when the content cannot load, so a Mac that starts before the network is ready shows its content as soon as the connection arrives. If the application itself quits unexpectedly, macOS does not start it again until the next login: restart the Mac with the power button.
Leave Kiosk Mode
- Press Control + Shift + L (Leave Kiosk Mode), then click Continue.
- When macOS asks, enter an administrator name and password. The application quits and no longer opens at login.
- Without the password, kiosk mode stays on.
- If the application reports that macOS kept the login item, a device management (MDM) profile may hold it: turn it off in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, or the application opens at the next login.
Keep the keyboard out of visitors’ reach, and test the exit before deploying on site.