Industrial Kiosk Browser – Kiosk browser for rugged Android devices

An industrial browser for web apps on rugged handhelds

Goods receipt, picking or shipping often run as web apps. On a handheld with a built-in scanner, that takes a browser that puts the scan into the right field, opens only allowed pages and cannot be changed by anyone who picks up the device. Industrial Kiosk Browser is built for exactly that: a lean kiosk browser for handheld computers, based on Android WebView and written in Kotlin.

Replacing terminal emulation with web apps, for example SAP ITS mobile? Industrial Kiosk Browser is the browser for the handhelds. It is a web browser itself, not a terminal emulator.

Kiosk browser for Zebra devices: scan a barcode straight into a web form

Scans from Zebra DataWedge, Honeywell or any scanner app via intent are typed into the focused field like keyboard input, optionally followed by Tab or Enter – and reported as the JavaScript event industrialkioskbrowser:scan as well. Existing web apps work without changes: input and change events fire, so React and Vue pick up the value. On start, the app creates its own DataWedge profile “Industrial Kiosk Browser” and leaves the decoder settings alone.

The generic scan broadcast, which any app can send, is accepted by default only on devices without a Zebra or Honeywell scanner; the scanner.genericIntent setting turns it on everywhere or off completely.

Features of the kiosk browser for Android

• Profiles

  Start URL, allowed hosts, user agent, viewport and colours per profile – several web apps on one device, optionally opened at app start.

• Kiosk mode

  Hide toolbar and system bars, hide exit or protect it with a password, lock task as a dedicated device (device owner).

• URL allow list

  With an allow list, the browser only navigates to allowed hosts and their subdomains; navigations and form posts to other hosts are stopped before they load.

• For web developers

  The scanner and ScannerNavigate meta tags control scanning per page; the window.IndustrialKioskBrowser JavaScript API for scanner, beep, vibration and toasts is available on allowed hosts only.

• Keyboard and keys

  On-screen keyboard only on demand, hardware key remapping, hotkeys and macros such as {F1} or {TAB}.

• Custom CSS and JavaScript

  Add your own CSS, JavaScript or HTML to third-party web apps – matched by URL, without flicker.

• Custom design

  Title, subtitle, logo, brand colour and profile colours – via configuration or right in the app. Clear error pages with codes such as IKB-0001 in the brand colour.

• Security

  Strict TLS checks, client certificates, passwords stored only as PBKDF2 hashes; configuration from other apps only with the admin password or on EMM-managed devices, locked for 15 minutes after 5 wrong attempts. Every release includes an SBOM (CycloneDX).

Deployment: SOTI MobiControl, Intune, Workspace ONE, StageNow

Distribute the APK with your MDM or install it with adb. The configuration comes as a managed configuration from any Android Enterprise EMM (key config_json), as a file industrialkioskbrowser.json – on Zebra devices also persistently in /enterprise/usr –, as a StageNow intent or as a QR code. There is a step-by-step guide for SOTI MobiControl.

Ready-made templates cover a single web app, full kiosk mode, several profiles with custom branding, injections with key remapping, and SAP ITS mobile with Enter after each scan.

Switching from commercial industrial browsers with a per-device subscription: Industrial Kiosk Browser as an alternative

For teams that run web apps on rugged Android devices with a commercial industrial browser licensed per device on subscription today and are looking at a free option. Industrial Kiosk Browser does the same core job – open web apps in kiosk mode and bring barcode scans into the web form – and is free of charge under the MIT licence: no licence server, no subscription, no device binding.

• Scans from Zebra DataWedge, Honeywell or any scanner app via intent are typed into the focused field, optionally followed by Tab or Enter; web apps work without changes.
• Kiosk mode, URL allow list, profiles, custom design, custom CSS and JavaScript.
• Configuration as JSON via managed configuration from any Android Enterprise EMM, as a file, via StageNow or as a QR code.
• No telemetry, no account.

Honestly, for anyone switching: Industrial Kiosk Browser is a web browser only, not a terminal emulator (Telnet, 5250, 3270, VT). It does not support the vendor-specific JavaScript APIs or configuration files of such browsers; web apps built on them use keyboard input, the industrialkioskbrowser:scan event or the window.IndustrialKioskBrowser JavaScript API instead. Industrial Kiosk Browser is a pre-release (0.x).

System requirements

Operating system

Android 8.0 or later

Scanner

Zebra DataWedge, Honeywell (Intent API of the Data Collection Service) or any scanner app via intent

Distribution

APK via MDM or adb; Google Play is prepared

Language

English and German; Spanish, French and Chinese machine-translated

Limits, honestly

• The Honeywell integration follows the vendor’s documented intent API and has not been verified on a Honeywell device yet; Android 8–10 is covered by unit tests only.
• An empty allow list allows every host – always set one on kiosk devices.
• Deliberately for intranets: plain HTTP and user-installed CA certificates are accepted, and the JavaScript API is also offered to http pages of allowed hosts. Use HTTPS wherever possible.
• Real kiosk mode (lock task) needs an EMM in dedicated device mode (device owner); without it, Industrial Kiosk Browser only hides the exit.
• The JavaScript API is not available on servers with a non-default port; scans, the scan event and the meta tags still work there.
• Renamed in 0.7.0 (formerly Pforte and EnterpriseBrowser): Android treats Industrial Kiosk Browser as a new app – there is no in-place update; roll out the configuration again and remove the old app.
• Builds under the new package name are signed in CI with the ICT Baden release key; the first tag release under the name Industrial Kiosk Browser is still to come. Google Play is prepared but not published yet.
• Version 0.x: settings, JSON format and JavaScript API may still change. Spanish, French and Chinese are machine translations.
• The screenshots are rendered from the UI code and placed in a neutral device frame, not photographed on a device.