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> Now if Apple/Android made a simple way for a test proctor to put your phone into a single app only that you couldn't easily break out of, maybe things will ch

> Now if Apple/Android made a simple way for a test proctor to put your phone into a single app only that you couldn't easily break out of, maybe things will change. Apple actually supports this: "When you give a test to your students, you can lock their iPad in to an assessment app and turn off features that you don't want them to use." https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204775 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204775 I tried it just now with desmos testing app. It starts when you click "start test" and ends after 8 hours or when you click "complete". Teachers just verify that the start time and duration looks right before they click complete test and disable the mode. During that time you can't switch apps, look at notifications, etc.

Wowfunhappy 7y ago
This works if the device is supplied by the school, but you can't lock a student's personal device.
- asperous 7y ago
  I just tried it on mine and it worked fine.
  - dTal 7y ago
    Yes, it worked for you - but surely in an adversarial context, there's absolutely no way to trust a previously untrusted device. In the extreme case, the entire interface might simply be a simulacrum app designed to feign success at locking.
    - csande17 7y ago
      Yup, a student could easily write an app that fakes the Desmos Test Mode confirmation screen, just like how a student could write a TI-BASIC program that displays "MEMORY CLEARED" on the screen. What's old is new again...
      - lonelappde 7y ago
        It's not "easy", that is to DRM. It would have to be installed using private developer keys or jailbreak or pass app store approval.
        Wowfunhappy 7y ago
        Anyone can install up to three custom apps on an iPhone from xCode using a free Apple ID. The catch is that they will stop working and need to be reinstalled after seven days, so not useful for every day use, but perfectly fine for testing or, in this case, mischief.
    - asperous 7y ago
      There's actually a lot easier ways of cheating on tests than that even. Teachers still have to watch their students, the solution is just designed to reduce the temptation for the average student to cheat.
    - ggreer 7y ago
      I don't know how that would work since the teacher could reboot the device or hit/swipe home to exit the fake app. If the fake app was in guided access mode, they'd see a pin input instead of a home screen. The only way to fool the teacher would be to jailbreak the device. The 6s running iOS 9 is the most recent untethered jailbreak. All newer devices and iOS versions will revert back to stock kernel after reboot. That means no jailbreak features and the home button & guided access mode work normally. So to fool the teacher you'd need: - An iPhone 6s or earlier - Running iOS 9 or earlier - With an untethered jailbreak (Pangu9) - Running a fake app that behaves just like the app - And behaves like iOS's guided access mode I think that's difficult enough to discourage the vast majority of cheaters. If the school really wanted to, they could hand out loaners to the students with old iOS devices. They'll need a bunch for the students with and Android devices anyway.
      - csande17 7y ago
        At least in the typical Desmos Test Mode use-case I've seen, the teacher never actually touches the device -- the student just holds up their phone with the confirmation screen when they hand in their test. Yes, the teacher could do a more elaborate test sequence to verify that phones haven't been tampered with. But that requires (a) a bunch of time per student, and (b) an in-depth knowledge of technology and eye for UI details that Hacker News commentors have but schoolteachers often don't. (Also, I'm not sure a jailbreak would really be required. On an iPhone X you could probably disable the Home-swipe gesture by setting that orientation to landscape or upside-down, drawing the UI and a fake home button right-side-up, and setting your app to "immersive mode" or whatever so the real home button auto-hides.)
      - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
        Why does the Jailbreak need to be untethered? Is the teacher walking around and making every student reboot in front of them? Rebooting takes a solid minute, so in a not-particularly-large class of 20 kids, you’re dedicating a solid 20 minutes to this activity. Once Jailbroken, I don’t think you’d need a fake app. Just make a very simple patch that overrides whatever is preventing you from returning to the homescreen, and set up the patch to be enabled by a secret Activator action, like pressing the volume buttons in a secret sequence.
jedberg 7y ago
The device has to be under Apple's management software. It's basically like a corporate IT management platform but for schools and teachers to use with their class set of iPads. But it doesn't work on personal devices.
- asperous 7y ago
  Look up the self app lock. That's the feature I just tested on my personal device that worked fine
  - Someone 7y ago
    It’s called “Guided Access”. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202612 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202612. Works fine, AFAIK, but may be a bit of a hassle to set up for an entire class.
    - spookthesunset 7y ago
      Pro tip: guided access is what you use when you want to lock little kids into using the right app. Without it they’ll hit some random button, break out of the program and the next thing you know they are randomly deleting text messages or something..
- Nition 7y ago
  You could probably use Guided Access mode for the same effect. Locks you into one app until you enter the right four-digit PIN.

Wowfunhappy 7y ago

This works if the device is supplied by the school, but you can't lock a student's personal device.

asperous 7y ago
I just tried it on mine and it worked fine.
- dTal 7y ago
  Yes, it worked for you - but surely in an adversarial context, there's absolutely no way to trust a previously untrusted device. In the extreme case, the entire interface might simply be a simulacrum app designed to feign success at locking.
  - csande17 7y ago
    Yup, a student could easily write an app that fakes the Desmos Test Mode confirmation screen, just like how a student could write a TI-BASIC program that displays "MEMORY CLEARED" on the screen. What's old is new again...
    - lonelappde 7y ago
      It's not "easy", that is to DRM. It would have to be installed using private developer keys or jailbreak or pass app store approval.
      - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
        Anyone can install up to three custom apps on an iPhone from xCode using a free Apple ID. The catch is that they will stop working and need to be reinstalled after seven days, so not useful for every day use, but perfectly fine for testing or, in this case, mischief.
  - asperous 7y ago
    There's actually a lot easier ways of cheating on tests than that even. Teachers still have to watch their students, the solution is just designed to reduce the temptation for the average student to cheat.
  - ggreer 7y ago
    I don't know how that would work since the teacher could reboot the device or hit/swipe home to exit the fake app. If the fake app was in guided access mode, they'd see a pin input instead of a home screen. The only way to fool the teacher would be to jailbreak the device. The 6s running iOS 9 is the most recent untethered jailbreak. All newer devices and iOS versions will revert back to stock kernel after reboot. That means no jailbreak features and the home button & guided access mode work normally. So to fool the teacher you'd need: - An iPhone 6s or earlier - Running iOS 9 or earlier - With an untethered jailbreak (Pangu9) - Running a fake app that behaves just like the app - And behaves like iOS's guided access mode I think that's difficult enough to discourage the vast majority of cheaters. If the school really wanted to, they could hand out loaners to the students with old iOS devices. They'll need a bunch for the students with and Android devices anyway.
    - csande17 7y ago
      At least in the typical Desmos Test Mode use-case I've seen, the teacher never actually touches the device -- the student just holds up their phone with the confirmation screen when they hand in their test. Yes, the teacher could do a more elaborate test sequence to verify that phones haven't been tampered with. But that requires (a) a bunch of time per student, and (b) an in-depth knowledge of technology and eye for UI details that Hacker News commentors have but schoolteachers often don't. (Also, I'm not sure a jailbreak would really be required. On an iPhone X you could probably disable the Home-swipe gesture by setting that orientation to landscape or upside-down, drawing the UI and a fake home button right-side-up, and setting your app to "immersive mode" or whatever so the real home button auto-hides.)
    - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
      Why does the Jailbreak need to be untethered? Is the teacher walking around and making every student reboot in front of them? Rebooting takes a solid minute, so in a not-particularly-large class of 20 kids, you’re dedicating a solid 20 minutes to this activity. Once Jailbroken, I don’t think you’d need a fake app. Just make a very simple patch that overrides whatever is preventing you from returning to the homescreen, and set up the patch to be enabled by a secret Activator action, like pressing the volume buttons in a secret sequence.

jedberg 7y ago

The device has to be under Apple's management software. It's basically like a corporate IT management platform but for schools and teachers to use with their class set of iPads. But it doesn't work on personal devices.

asperous 7y ago
Look up the self app lock. That's the feature I just tested on my personal device that worked fine
- Someone 7y ago
  It’s called “Guided Access”. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202612 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202612. Works fine, AFAIK, but may be a bit of a hassle to set up for an entire class.
  - spookthesunset 7y ago
    Pro tip: guided access is what you use when you want to lock little kids into using the right app. Without it they’ll hit some random button, break out of the program and the next thing you know they are randomly deleting text messages or something..
Nition 7y ago
You could probably use Guided Access mode for the same effect. Locks you into one app until you enter the right four-digit PIN.