Users with iOS devices are required to enter their Apple ID passwords when installing applications. How do you silently push public applications to iOS devices?
The following steps are required to silently push an application:
For additional information, please refer to the following guides:
Can you require that public apps are updated as new versions are released?
AirWatch can only force app updates for public apps by fully reinstalling the latest version on each device's native app store. To force an app update in this way, perform the following steps:
If the App Catalog is available to users, they can update the app at any time by choosing to re-download from the App Catalog.
If the device's native app store is active on managed devices, each device will be prompted to update to the latest version of public apps as they are made available. Automatic updates can be enabled on iOS devices by navigating to and enabling Settings > iTunes & App Store > Updates.
The APNs Certificate for MDM allows for iOS devices to communicate with the Air-Watch Console. iOS devices cannot be managed without a valid APNs Certificate.
After a life-cycle of one-year, the APNs for MDM will have to be renewed. The below resolution details this process. This process has two requirements:
Steps to renew the APNs certificate:
Open the Air-Watch Console and navigate to Config & Settings > All Settings > Devices & Users > Apple > APNs for MDM.
Configure detection of OS updates on devices using iOS 9+.
Administrators can query for available updates on iOS 9 devices and force updates on iOS 9+ DEP Supervised devices.
To query for OS updates (iOS 9 devices):
To schedule an OS Update (iOS 9 + DEP devices):
Getting Ready for iOS 10
If you are managing iOS devices through AirWatch and leverage AirWatch applications, SDK, or App Wrapping, it is critical that you make updates to prepare for iOS 10. If you do not make updates you risk devices being incorrectly flagged as compromised and unintentionally wiped or unenrolled when they upgrade to iOS 10. If a device updates to iOS 10 before updating all affected applications and is marked as compromised, then that device must update all affected applications and send a beacon back to the console in order to revert the status back to uncompromised. A beacon can be manually sent to the console by opening any application that contains the AirWatch SDK.
If you are unable to make these updates in advance of iOS 10 we recommend that you temporarily disable Compromised Protection or any compliance policies related to Compromised Detection. To learn more about disabling Compromise Protection click here.
Details can be found in the articles below:
It is important to note that AirWatch Teacher Tools will not support iOS 10. If you use Teacher Tools and have devices that will be upgrading to iOS 10, you should disable Compromise Protection or any compliance policies related to Compromise Detection.
We have prepared email templates that can be sent from your executives and help desk team to ensure that users keep their applications up-to-date. These templates are available here.
Features new to iOS 10 will be available as part of AirWatch 8.4.5. A database seed script will be made available on myAirWatch for on-premise customers running AirWatch 8.4.5 to activate the new iOS 10 functionality upon its release. These features will automatically be activated for SaaS environments.Addtionally, a database seed script will be made available for earlier AirWatch Console versions to allow for basic MDM support of iOS 10 devices.
Apple has made a public beta of iOS 10 available for download. As a reminder, AirWatch cannot guarantee support for beta versions of software. End users who upgrade their devices to iOS 10 Beta may run into issues if they are enrolled in AirWatch and/or using AirWatch productivity apps. For this reason, we recommend users who wish to participate in the beta program not upgrade their primary work device. In the event that we identify a critical compatibility issue between one of our applications and iOS 10 Beta, we will post a Known Issue on myAirWatch. If your team identifies a potential issue and you do not see a Known Issue posted, we encourage you to submit a Support Request through the myAirWatch Support portal. Our Technical Support Engineers will not be able to engage with you to resolve the issue, but we will pass along the information to our product teams for further investigation and testing.
We will continue to update this section as new compatibility issues are identified.
Following the release of iOS 10, AirWatch will guarantee support for the following iOS versions for new AirWatch product releases:
AirWatch Product | Supported iOS Version |
---|---|
AirWatch Productivity Apps | iOS 9+ |
AirWatch Agent/Container | iOS 8+ |
AirWatch MDM platform support | iOS 7+ |
Devices that do not meet these requirements and have not yet enrolled or installed the specific app will not be able to do so following these releases. Devices that are currently enrolled and that currently have the specified apps installed will continue to function, but AirWatch cannot guarantee full support of all functionality for these devices in future versions.
Minimum supported version information is available in the Product Announcement for each release application version.