Disable widgets on iPad

[JCarey2]

I would like to disable the widgets on the iPad. We use these as devices for our elementary students sometimes the widgets can be distracting or upsetting (e.g. news of violence, Momo, etc). I have not found a way to do this. Anyone else?

[Richard_W]

Isn't the widget just a linkage to the built in News app.

If so how's about you set up a security policy to blacklist that app.

https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Tags_and_Policies/App_white%2F%2Fblacklisting_in_security_policies

Oddly enough if you search for "News" you will not find it, however search for "com.apple.news" and it will find the right bundleID; which is what we searched for 😉

BundleID's I found here:

https://emm.how/t/ios-12-list-of-default-apps-and-bundle-id-s/790

[JCarey2]

The news app is blocked, it still pulls in news. The same with the weather app and the other default widgets.

[Richard_W]

how's about this then:

Via profiles:

[JCarey2]

Nope. Didn't work. Still shows up by default in widgets. Only way I've found to disable it is to manually remove the widget from each profile. These are used on about 90 iPads each with 2-3 profiles. Manual is not an option.

[Richard_W · Accepted solution]

added to my profile, restrictions this. i.e. unchecked:

and that appears to have done it for my test iPad

R

[EvanJK]

Just actually solved this issue using Meraki with iPadOS 15-17. Under Systems Manager > Settings > choose your profile > Add Settings on left side column > Home Screen Layout. We left the home screen blank, we didn't put apps in a folder or any other configurations and it removed the widgets from all of our devices. Hope this helps!