Consumers love touchscreen interfaces because they personalize and streamline their experience with a brand and also because it’s what they’re used to.
On the other hand, business owners can assign their staff to other important tasks while still providing their customers with crucial information and services in a dedicated digital environment without compromising quality customer service.
It’s a win-win situation.
But without taking proper measures for secure interactivity, users can easily get distracted by other apps or access restricted information with a tap of a button.
This article will provide you with steps to disable the touchscreen on your devices so that you can tailor your digital environment, minimize distractions, and optimize user engagement.
Reasons To Disable Touchscreen
Self-service kiosks or stations are usually designed for a specific purpose, such as wayfinding, checking in at a hotel, or ordering food at a restaurant. Locking the screen to a single application ensures that customers can only access the intended functionality and prevents unauthorized access to other applications or settings.
Limiting the options available to users reduces the likelihood of accidental actions or errors that may occur when switching between applications.
In retail, where touchscreens are used as Point-of-Sale systems, businesses need to ensure that employees can only process sales transactions and access the necessary tools for their work, in turn reducing the risk of unsanctioned activities or distractions.
It is also a way for businesses to exercise greater control over the functionality of the interactive displays to manage and monitor user interactions.
How To Disable Touchscreen On Different Devices
Apple Devices
iPadOS allows you to create configuration profiles that define various settings and restrictions on your iPad using the Single App feature. To enable Single App mode, create a configuration profile with the desired app as the only allowed application.
Here is an outline of the steps involved:
- Create a configuration profile using Apple’s Configuration Utility or a third-party mobile device management (MDM) solution.
- In the configuration profile, navigate to the “Restrictions” or “Single App Mode” section(depending on the tool you’re using).
- Add the specific application you want to lock the iPad as the only allowed app.
- Install the configuration profile on the Mac using the Configuration Utility, an MDM solution, or manually installing the profile.
- Once the profile is installed, the Mac will launch into Single App Mode, and the specified application will be the only one accessible.
If you prefer a more user-friendly approach or need additional customization options, look to third-party software solutions.
Android Devices
Android offers a “Kiosk Mode” or “Device Owner Mode” where you can lock the device to a specific application. To enable Kiosk Mode, you must set up a device owner or use an enterprise mobility management(EMM) solution that supports kiosk mode. Device Owner Mode requires specific provisioning methods, such as using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) or an EMM solution, and it is primarily intended for corporate or enterprise use.
App pinning is another method available on Android to lock the device to a specific application. Here’s how you can do it:
- Open the Settings app on your Android device.
- Navigate to the “Security” or “Lock screen and security” section.
- Look for the “Screen pinning” or “Pin windows” option. The exact location of this option may vary depending on the Android version or device manufacturer.
- Enable the “Screen pinning” or “Pin Windows” option.
- Open the application you want to pin on the screen.
- Swipe up or tap the “Recent apps” button to view the app cards.
- Locate the app card for the application you want to pin and swipe up or tap the “Pin” or “Pin app” button on the card.
- Tap “Start” or “OK” to confirm.
App pining is straightforward and may not provide the same level of security or control as dedicated kiosk mode. Users can easily unpin the app if they are aware of the unhooking process.
Windows Devices
To restrict navigation to a single app on Windows, you have to set up Kiosk Mode using the Assigned Access feature available for Windows 10 and 11. Kiosk mode can only be configured for local accounts, not for Microsoft or administrator accounts.
To set up Kiosk mode on Windows,
- Go to the Settings app.
- Click on “Accounts” and then choose “Other Users”.
- Select “Set up a Kiosk”.
- Choose “Assigned access” and then click on “Get started.”
Enter a name for the kiosk user account, you’ll also get an option to choose an existing local account if available, then proceed to choose the app you want to run. Click “Close” to finalize the assigned access configuration.
If you’re aiming for a more hands-off scenario, right-click on the Start button and select "Device Manager, expand the "Human Interface Devices" category, and look for a device under "Human Interface Devices" that represents your touchscreen, often labeled as "HID-compliant touch screen”. Right-click on the touchscreen device and select "Disable" from the context menu. This process will prevent any touchscreen capabilities.
Use Look DS for Secure Interactivity
The best thing about digital signage is that you can partition your screen to show multiple layers of information. The user has only to click one and gain more information about it. The Look DS content manager provides you with a secure interactivity solution through its layout designer function, where you can create tailored interactive scenarios.
In the layout editor interface, you can easily create layers and widgets and customize their appearance to suit the on-screen layout. With the ability to add buttons to layers, each leading to the next scene attached to the button, there's no need to insert links to third-party sites. This ensures that users when interacting with the screen, stay within the designated scenarios, without the risk of navigating to external resources.
Optimize Interactive Scenarios in Look DS
With that said, let’s get into how you can turn your touch monitor into a fully-fledged interactive display in a matter of minutes.
You’ll need:
- A touch monitor
- As a media player, we recommend our flagship Look HD-2222
- Look Digital Signage Software
When you’re all set, let’s get into it:
- Connect the media player to the HDMI input of the touch monitor.
- Sign in to the Look Content Manager on the connected system using the six-digit code generated after connecting the player to the internet.
- In the Layout section, create a scenario based on existing templates. Customize clickable widgets, change colors to corporate branding, and assign content items or scenes.
- Modify text elements, create additional features such as a weather plugin with corporate colors, and replace existing content as needed.
- Add the created scenario to the screen through the Look Content Manager.
- Test the interactive functionality by clicking buttons and ensuring they work as expected.
Maximize The Potential of Your Secured Touchscreen Device
There is a lot more you can achieve with a touchscreen-disabled display with the right software solution, and Look digital signage software is exactly that. It comes with a fantastic lineup of preinstalled apps, such as Google Slides, that you can use as content for presentations or X (former Twitter) feeds to keep your audience updated with live social media content. You can also use it to create interactive maps and directories for wayfinding signage in your institution or event.
As we mentioned, Look CMS is great for secure navigation because you can also restrict access to ensure only relevant team members can make content changes based on their roles.
Go ahead and sign up for the 14-day trial period today that comes without any functional limitations.
