Configuring ProSurf Browser - iOS

ProSurf Browser for iOS gives you a wide range of options. Some of these options are available at a browser level, and some of them are available at a Website level. In this document, we will walk through all the options available. We will also see how to set up a Device Profile so that ProSurf can be used as a Kiosk Browser.

We suggest you Get a Cup of Coffee, as ProSurf offers quite a few configuration parameters!!

Before You Begin

1. Make sure you have a valid Scalefusion Dashboard account.
2. Make sure you have enabled ProSurf as described in our Enabling ProSurf guide.

Configuring ProSurf Browser settings

The first step is to configure the overall ProSurf browser settings. These settings work at the application level and allow you to control the overall application behavior. Please follow the steps below,

1. Sign In to Scalefusion Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Device Profiles & Policies > Allowed Websites section.
3. Click on the Browser Settings button.
   
4. Click on the ProSurf tab as shown below, 
   
5. In this dialog, you will see various options. We have given the description of each option in the table below. Once you have configured the settings, click SAVE.

Allowing a Website and related Settings

Allowing websites gives you the ability to control which websites are allowed to be opened using the ProSurf application. Additionally, you can configure various other properties to control the website's behavior. Please follow the steps below,

1. Navigate to Device Profiles & Policies > Allowed Websites section.
2. Click on the ALLOW A WEBSITE button.
   
3. In the DETAILS section, you get the following options,
   1. Enter Website Name: The name of the website. This is used to refer to this website within the Dashboard, and on the client, this is the name used for the Bookmark/Shortcut.
   2. Website Link: The URL of the website.
   3. Visible on HomeScreen: Choose if a bookmark for this website should be placed on the ProSurf home screen.
      
4. Now click on Apple Settings tab. This screen is divided into the following 3 sections:
   1. Upload an Icon: You can upload an icon for your website. This will be used by ProSurf when it shows the bookmark on the home screen. If no icon is given, then ProSurf tries to load the default icon for the webpage. This is also the icon that is used when this website is used as a web clip.
   2. Safari Settings: These settings only apply when this shortcut is used with Safari. To learn more on how they work, please refer to this document.
   3. ProSurf Settings: These are the settings that are used when the website is opened using ProSurf. The table below gives the details of these options,
      
      

      Setting	Description
      Allow Top Level Domain	Enable this setting if you want to allow the complete domain rather than just the URL. For example, if you want to allow all the pages and sub-domains in the domain mobilock instead of just mobilock.in, then enable this setting.
      Allow Zoom Controls	Enable this setting if you want the end users to pinch and zoom in on your website.
      Auto Play Videos	Enable this setting if you want the videos in the allowed website to be auto-played.
      Allow Javascript Popups	Enable this setting if you want to allow Javascript popups on your website.
      Auto-Refresh Website	If you want your website to automatically refresh after every X seconds, then set the value using this setting.
      Clear Cache/Cookies on Auto-Refresh	Enable this option if you want the cache to be cleared every time the page auto-refreshes. This depends upon the Auto-Refresh value you have set.
      Default to Desktop Mode	Enable this option to load the website in Desktop mode by default. Users can switch between modes if the setting is enabled in Browser Settings.
      Always Load the Root URL at Launch	Enable this option if you want the page to start loading from the root URL every time the shortcut is clicked. This means the webpage will be closed when the user minimizes it.
      Enable Javascript Interface for this URL	Enable this setting if you want to access the Javascript functions that ProSurf offers from your website. Refer to our Javascript API help document for more info.

5. Click SAVE once you are done, and the newly added allowed website should appear in the list of websites.

Enabling ProSurf & publishing websites in Device Profile

Once you have configured the ProSurf browser settings and allowed the websites, the next step is to create/edit an iOS Device Profile and enable ProSurf and publish websites. The steps to do these are quite straightforward and are explained below,

1. Navigate to Device Profiles & Policies > Device Profiles section.
2. Create a new iOS Device Profile or edit an existing one.
3. In the Select Apps section, enable the ProSurf application.
4. In the Allowed Websites section, enable all the websites that you want in this device profile.
5. In the Restrictions section, choose the settings depending upon how you want to use ProSurf,
   1. Use ProSurf as Kiosk Browser: In the Single App Mode section, select ProSurf app, choose a Default URL to run always, and select a poll time so that the ProSurf application can get the latest settings, as shown below.
   2. Use ProSurf in Autonomous Single App Mode: In the Single App Mode section, choose Autonomous Single App Mode and enable privileges for ProSurf App as shown below.
      
   3. Use ProSurf as a normal Browser: No special steps are required. Please proceed to the next step.
6. Now click on SAFARI SETTINGS and choose to disable Safari as shown below.
   
   NOTE: Disabling Safari is an optional step. If Safari is also enabled, then users might end up seeing two browsers which may cause confusion. Also, the web-filtering logic might conflict between the two browser applications.
7. Click on UPDATE PROFILE to save the profile. Once the Profile is saved, a push will be sent to the devices to install the ProSurf application if not already installed. Once the ProSurf application is installed and launched on the device, it will sync the settings from the Dashboard.

Using ProSurf Browser on iOS Device

Once you have set up the Dashboard and pushed the ProSurf application from the Dashboard, it will be installed on the devices. The following steps guide you through the flow of devices.

1. Wait for the application to be installed on the device. Once installed, you will see the ProSurf app icon on the home screen.
2. Click on the ProSurf app icon. You will be asked for the Notification permission. Please click on Allow.
   On Supervised Devices, Notification Permission will be automatically granted.
3. Now the application will register itself to the Scalefusion dashboard automatically.
4. Once the registration is done, the ProSurf home screen will be shown with the allowed websites and other settings.
5. The following short video visually walks you through the process.

Launch ProSurf browser from other Apps

You can choose to launch URLs of other Apps and apply the browser restrictions that ProSurf offers. This can be done by using the following scheme:

prosurf://app?open_url=URLEncodedString

Here, URLEncodedString should be replaced with the URL you want to open. For example, if you want to open google.com in ProSurf, enter the following and it will be redirected to chrome browser:

prosurf://app?open_url=www.google.com

Note: The example screenshot is from Chrome browser