SkieWhy does Skie lock mobile network settings on managed devices?
Skie locks mobile network settings with Android's mobile networks restriction, and it is on by default. Students cannot change access point names, preferred network type or roaming. That prevents a tablet with a SIM from being pointed at a different route that skips the filtered connection or breaks mobile data.
Where a tablet has a SIM, Android lets a user edit the access point name, the preferred network type, data roaming and a few related options. A wrong or deliberate change can make data stop working, or send it through a different path.
Skie sets DISALLOW_CONFIG_MOBILE_NETWORKS as the device owner, which removes the editing screens from Settings. The setting is separate from the block on airplane mode and from the block on network reset, each covered in its own entry. Filtering DNS is locked on the device, so it travels on any Wi-Fi or mobile data, and this protection helps keep the mobile route in a state you set.
Skie does not include a mobile plan or SIM. The customer uses their own carrier. Wi-Fi-only tablets work for most features, and for those the setting has nothing to lock but is still harmless to leave on.
It is default on and has its own switch in the hardening section, with a state read back from Android and shown in the compliance score.
If your carrier needs a particular APN configured, set it up on the device before handover, then leave the protection on. If a group needs the setting open for a test, switch it off for that group only. Practical tip: record your carrier settings in your device policy document, so that a replacement tablet can be prepared the same way.