You can use a policy to control the sound settings of fully managed Android devices (COBO).
Aim
In this How-To we show you how you can distribute a suitable policy to, for example, mute the speaker or the microphone on devices. Additionally, you can also pre-set the volume of various sounds or the ringer mode for users' Android devices.
Implementation
- In the Cortado administration portal select Administration→ Policies.
- Click on the Plus icon to add a new policy.
- Then select Android and Fully managed device as the setup method.
- You will find the Sound settings there (arrow in illus.).
The following options are available to you here:
Mute master volume (not visible in the device settings)
- Enable this checkbox if you want to mute the device, i.e. switch off all sounds on the device.
- Then assign the policy to the users/groups/devices.
- The device is now completely muted, so that neither the ringtone nor sounds in the apps work.
- This policy is not visible to the user in the sound settings on the device (left illus.). The user can move the volume sliders, but the sound always remains off.
- The users can only see that the master volume is switched off in the Cortado app under Policies→ Sound settings (right illus.).
Mute master volume
- Enable this checkbox if you want to mute the device, i.e. switch off all sounds on the device.
- Then assign the policy to the users/groups/devices.
- The device now remains completely muted, so that neither the ringtone nor sounds in the apps work.
- This policy is visible to the user in the sound settings on the device (left illus.). The volume sliders are greyed out and cannot be moved by the user - the sound remains off (left illus.).
- In the Cortado app under Policies→ Sound settings the users can also see that changing the master volume is not permitted (right illus.).
Allow use of microphone
- If you remove the tick from this checkbox, you will mute the microphone on the Android device.
- Then assign the policy to the users/groups/devices.
- Apps (e.g. dictation apps or the camera) can now not access the microphone.
- This policy is not visible in the Android settings.
- In the Cortado app under Policies→ Sound settings the users can see that use of the microphone is not permitted (right illus.).
Media volume, call volume, ring and notification volume, alarm volume in %
- This is a pre-set volume setting and not a restrictive policy. Enter a value between 0 and 100 here if you want to set the initial volume levels for the Android devices.
- Then assign the policy to the users/groups/devices.
- The volume sliders are then set once to the specified value (left illus.).
- The users can see the predefined values in the Cortado app under Policies→ Sound settings (right illus.).
- The volume controls are not locked for the users. A user can change this default setting at any time.
Note! Updating the Cortado app will not cause the default values to be reset on the device.
Ringing mode
- This also involves a default setting and not a restrictive policy. Specify the initial ringtone mode here. You can choose between Standard, Ring, Vibrate and Silent.
- In the example, the Silent mode has been selected (arrow in illus.).
- Then assign the policy to the users/groups/devices.
- The selected ringing mode will then be set as the default on the device (upper arrow in right illus.). In the example (Silent) the Do not disturb mode is activated on the device (left illus.).
- The users can also see the default setting Silent in the Cortado app under Policies→ Sound settings (lower arrow in right illus.).
- The ability to change the ringtone mode is not locked for the users in the settings. It is possible for a user to change this default setting at any time.