SkieWhat is the unlock gate overlay on a Skie managed device?
The unlock gate is an overlay that appears when someone unlocks a device whose last sync is older than the Due limit. It tries to sync first. If the sync finishes, the overlay disappears and the device is used normally. It only blocks use if the sync cannot complete.
A rule is only as good as how recently the device heard about it. Most of the time devices sync in the background and nobody notices. Occasionally a device goes quiet, perhaps a tablet that spent the break in a cupboard without power. When its owner unlocks it, the last sync is stale.
That is where the unlock gate comes in. As the screen opens, an overlay appears and the device syncs. For a device on working Wi-Fi this is brief and the overlay clears with the user none the wiser. If the sync cannot finish, for example there is no network, the overlay stays and gates the device until it does. This is how Skie keeps a long-silent device from being used under old rules.
The trigger is the Due limit, an editable threshold. Set it lower and devices must prove they are current more often. Set it higher and you tolerate longer gaps. The same threshold sits alongside Overdue, Offline unusual and Breach, covered in their own entry.
Offline mode interacts with this: if offline mode is on, the device uses its own allowed apps for the period and the gate does not block it. How offline mode starts and ends is described in the offline entries.
Practical tip: tell staff what the overlay means before rollout. A teacher who sees a brief screen after a long weekend should know it is the device syncing, and that connecting to Wi-Fi is the fix if it stays.