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Legacy FileWave Kiosk IPA Location Tracking Issue

The enterprise IPA version of FileWave Kiosk for iOS and iPadOS is retired and stopped working on July 30, 2026. FileWave will not issue a replacement IPA. Upgrade to FileWave 16.3.0 or later and deploy the Apple App Store version through Apps and Books / VPP. See IPA-based FileWave Kiosk for iOS/iPadOS - EOL for the required recovery steps.

Current action

  1. Upgrade FileWave Server and related components to FileWave 16.3.0 or later, using a currently supported release where possible.
  2. Acquire the free FileWave Kiosk app in Apple School Manager or Apple Business Manager Apps and Books.
  3. Remove legacy Kiosk IPA Filesets and Associations, run Model Update, sync Apps and Books / VPP licenses, and verify affected devices.

Historical location-permission issue

Before the IPA workflow was retired, iOS no longer allowed the enterprise Kiosk app to receive permanent location approval from a single prompt.

When FileWave placed the IPA app in Tracked mode, selecting Allow While Using could still result in another permission prompt after each app restart, sometimes more than once.

Historical mitigations

The following options applied only while the IPA still functioned. They do not restore the retired app today:

  • Prefer Lost Mode for a lost supervised device. Lost Mode did not require the Kiosk IPA and did not depend on the user leaving location access enabled for that app.
  • Use Untracked state to avoid the repeated Kiosk prompt. The prompt behavior occurred when FileWave considered the device Tracked.
  • Do not rely on IPA Tracked mode as a durable location workflow. It depended on app permission and could be disabled by the user.

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