What's new in Kiosk Satellite 2026.8.107
Kiosk Satellite can now be the device's home screen, replacing the stock launcher entirely and the App Launcher grew into a full-screen wall of app tiles.
New Feature: Home Launcher
- Kiosk Satellite can register as the device's home screen (#219), on its own settings page on the device and in the remote admin: the device boots straight into the kiosk instead of flashing the stock launcher first, and every home press returns to the kiosk.
- Kiosk Mode's Disable home button no longer needs screen pinning or its consent dialog while the role is held, which some devices re-asked on every boot; Keep screen pinning opts the pin back in for its native recents and back blocking.
- Enabling is one tap in a system dialog on Android 10 and newer, a pick in the system's home settings on older releases and fully silent with device ownership, including from the remote admin or a Home Assistant automation.
- A home press while the kiosk is already up closes the menu, settings, overlays and screensaver and lands on the dashboard, and back never leaves the kiosk, the way every launcher ignores it: it closes the menu or steps the page history instead. The Exit entries leave the menu and the remote admin overview while the role is held, since killing the home screen only has the system relaunch it.
- The safety net is native and independent of the app's own engine: three starts in a row that never draw a frame hand the home role back to the stock launcher automatically, so a broken install can never strand the device. Turning the feature off, the
releaseHomeRoleremote command and uninstalling all restore the previous launcher on their own. - Not available on Fire OS, which locks its launcher to Amazon's own; the page says so on a Fire. See the new Home Launcher docs.
Redesigned: App Launcher
- The App Launcher is a full-screen wall of tiles now, in place of the old small modal: each app sits large and centered on a rounded surface washed with a soft gradient pulled from its own icon's colors, labels beneath, the set centered on a gradient ground that follows the app's light or dark theme.
- A dpad or keyboard walks the tiles with a ring on the focused one and Enter launches; the ring only appears while keys are actually driving, so a touch tablet never sees it.
- The Layout and Show icons settings only configured the old modal and are gone.