VMware Workspace ONE Community
HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

Avoiding Workspace (Android for Work)

I am in works with AirWatch Tech Support on our enrollment/email management issue.  Since Device Administrator going away at some point (WHO KNOWS!) and the inability to use AirWatch Inbox we are looking for an easy method for our users to get their emails/contacts/calendar on their company phone without having to be restrictive.  Basically, our users have free use of their phone.  They can pretty much download any application they want.  Our main desire is to make the enrollment easy as well as accessing Outlook (Emails, Calendar, Contacts), but we want the ability to wipe the email/device if lost or stolen.  I brought up the use of the Outlook app, but using that application will not give us the ability to wipe the email if the device is lost or stolen.  The tech is gong to test some scenarios and get back to me later today or tomorrow.  Unfortunate that with the Androids they cannot design something that is similar to how it has been with Device Administrator/AirWatch Inbox.  Be nice if you can make use of the Native Email Client in this new environment that folks are being forced to migrate to. 
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32 Replies
sarndt
Contributor
Contributor

You can use Workspace One Boxer in standalone mode (no MDM) - and it works great.  You can also use Boxer in MDM scenario with Android for Enterprise in profile mode or device owner mode.
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Boe_K
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hey Herndon sorry to hear your having such a hard time with Android Enterprise, we have it up and running on just shy of 800 devices at this point and have had very good results. We utilize the work profile option so that we only control/restrict our apps while the user can still do whatever they want on the personal side of the device. Like Scott mentioned we use the Boxer mail client and it has worked fine for us and each release seems to make things a little better and the client is finally starting to get fairly polished.  As far as the device admin model going away Google has been very clear that some features were deprecated with Android 9.0 with the whole Admin model being removed in Android Q scheduled to come out later this summer. Hopefully support can assist you with getting your Android Enterprise setup up and going properly because once its up and running its pretty slick to use.

https://www.blog.google/products/android-enterprise/why-its-time-enterprises-adopt-androids-modern-d...
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

Scott A. it is my understanding if you use Boxer in standalone mode aren't you still using Device Administrator?  I have two Androids that I installed the Intelligent Hub and then Boxer and it is still using Device Administrator.  Is that a correct assumption?  I want to avoid Device Administrator since that is going away. 
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

Boe - I have one person on Android for Work (using Workspace and Boxer)....his feedback on a couple issues have been the following:

1 – Calendar alerts display as an expandable dropdown menu within the notifications bar. – Inbox displayed all calendar alerts separately (loved it)
2 – There’s no option to dismiss a single calendar entry from the notifications. – Inbox gave you options within the notification bar (again loved it)

Any knowledge on this?

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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

Boe - couple questions.....from a Contacts perspective....do you tell your users that if they add a CONTACT they need to add it into the Contacts WITHIN Workspace and not in the native contacts side (if business related)? 

As far as applications go, if they want to install an application that is NON BUSINESS needed then you tell them to access and download the application from the native Google Play Store (NOT the one in Workspace)?


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Boe_K
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Herndon correct our users install personal apps from the personal play store and work approved apps from the work play store. As far as contacts go yes we instruct our users to add contacts on the go via the Boxer application so that they sync back to their Exchange account but I'm sure some just add them to their personal address book instead. Really that's a user preference and we don't get to picky about it.

As far as the notification piece I personal disable calendar alerts as I'm rarely away from my desk and if I am I'm on my work laptop so I get those alerts via Outlook we have never had our users complain about that feature so don't really have much info to give you on that one. I see you refer to ' Workspace'  a lot so I'm assuming the user has a Samsung phone as Samsung puts the Android Enterprise software into a container called ' Workspace'  on Android 8.0 (7.0 and below and 9.0) don't have this hang up. There are a few things we recommend users on Samsung phones with 8.0 do and I'll list a copy of our Q&A we give users below.

Q. How can I put a Boxer shortcut on my home screen for quick access?

A. Samsung's latest software update isolates work applications from personal
applications. As a result your work applications are now stored in a folder called
Workspace. In order to create a shortcut to Boxer on your phone’s home screen you
will first need to change Samsung’s Workspace App Style settings. You can do so by
doing the following:

1. Open up your App Drawer and select the Workspace app.
2. Select the settings menu (top right) followed by Workspace Settings.
3. Select Workspace style from the top.
4. Turn off the toggle next to Hide Workspace apps then click done.
5. Now back all the way out to your back to your App Drawer.
6. Long press the Boxer application and select Add to Home.


Q. Why do notifications now say “Content Hidden” after OS update (Applies to Android
8.0+ devices)?

A. This is a notification setting that needs to be adjusted inside of Samsung Workspace
app. You can do so by doing the following:

1. Open up the app drawer and select Workspace app.
2. Select the settings menu (top right) followed by Workspace Settings.
3. Scroll down and select Notifications and data.
4. Enable the toggle for Show notification content & then change Notifications
on lock screen to show notification content.
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

Boe - Thanks for the time on your reponse.  Much appreciated.  I was aware of your Question # 1 and had that documented.  I have made note of your Question #2. 
I am going to reenroll a test Samsung Galaxy S7 and do some more testing and playing around. 

One question I do have, is how do you make sure you have the latest Boxer version/build as well as Workspace?  I was looking around on the phone and could not see an update option. 
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Boe_K
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Herndon you can't update ' Workspace'  that is a Samsung Device/OS feature. As far as updating Boxer when you publish it via the WS1 console you get prompted to ' Approve'  the app and then you get another prompt to either ' Keep it approved'  or ' Revoke appp'  when it asks for new permissions. We have our set to keep it approved so that way the Work Play Store that gets setup in the work Profile can just auto update the app as VMware publishes its new updates. As a result this alows work apps to update automatically just like personal apps do. If you are on the latest console you can also go in and configure a policy to force apps to update over cellular, wifi or both but we have never found a need to do so at this point.
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

Boe - I reenrolled my test phone back into Android for Work.  One thing I do is also add shortcut to the home screen for the Contacts as well.  As far as the applications I approve for installation in the Workspace is Boxer and ES File Explorer File Manager(for ZIP files).  Anything else you would suggest to consider from an Outlook/Exchange and applications perspective? 
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

I have Boxer set to Keep Approved.  Under Approval Preferences I do not have anything setup in the Notifications tab.  Guess I am confused on how does Boxer stay updated?
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Boe_K
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Herndon as far as recommend apps that really depends on your use case. One thing we found is certain Samsung phones for whatever reason are not able to play voice mails via boxer because for some reason it doesn't detect Samsungs default media player app. I don't remember the specifics ones but what we put in our FAQ section for our enrollment guide that we give to users is that if they run into this issue go out to the Work Play Store and install VLC which we have pre approved for everyone. This allows them to then select and play back voicemail via that app. I know the Boxer team is working on integrating it with Androids native audio codecs/playback so hopefully in a future update we will no longer need that work around.

As far as updating of apps the update happens just like normal personal apps update Herndon as long as you have things set to stay approved in the console you don't have to do anything else on your end it will just happen in the background for the user once an update is available.
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

I am testing the ZIP file opening because we have it setup if someone leaves a VM on your desk phone the VM will come to your email in a audio file that you can play from your computer.  I am using ES File Explorer to open them on the Samsung.  I did learn that in order for that file to be supported (ZIP) you have to go into Boxer - Settings and go to Mailbox Settings and scroll down to Allow Insecure Attachments and put a check in there.  Otherwise when we click on a zip file we get file not supported.  We then are able to opne up the ZIP files with ES Viewer and then play them in Sound Player.
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NigelPalmer
Contributor
Contributor

I have a test deployment of Boxer that is managed via enterprise Google Play account. If I add a personal Gmail account to Boxer in addition to the enterprise account, email syncs fine from all accounts, but I am unable to also sync calendar or contacts from the personal Gmail account. Is there any way I can sync personal contacts/calendar to managed Boxer in addition to enterprise and personal email?

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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

One thing I am trying to figure out is the following.....with using Workspace and having a Work Profile I know you have Contacts in Workspace and then you have the Native Contacts.  My question is when you pull up the phone dialer and try to search for a contact to try and call them it only seems to pull up the Contacts in Workspace.  I added a test contact in the native but when I search for that name it does not come up.  Is that not a available option now?
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

One thing that came to mind today is maybe I am not dowloading the correct Workspace app at the beginning.  In the past I would go to www.getws1.com and install the app there.  It says its Workspace One Intelligent Hub (blue hexagon symbol).  Today I watched a YouTube video where a product expert was going to Google Play Store and installing VMware Workspace One (multi-color hexagon).  I tried that and when I go to OPEN it asks for Email Address or Server.  When I try to enter the web address to our AirWatch console I get an error saying Unable to connect to server.  I also tried just typing my work email address and I get error saying Email address not found on server.  Any input on why I cannot seem to get any data to be accepted in the field at the beginning of configuring VMware Workspace One.  
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Boe_K
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Herndon the Intelligent Hub and the Workspace ONE app are different products for different user cases. For what you are describing you will want to use the Intelligent Hub. Also since you keep referring to Workspace and not Android Enterprise I'm assuming your testing on a Samsung Device maybe these links will help to clarify things for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwgd5oaCOHo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9-sCtmarpc
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

My apologies Boe.  Thanks for the heads up.  I had been using the Intelligent Hub, but just wanted to make sure I was not looking at the wrong item.  The other youtube video that was put out by VMware was referencing the other one but I guess it has been updated.   In addition, I am talking about Samsung Galaxy phones.  Due to the deprecation coming I need to start getting them off Device Admin thus the move to Android for Work and using a work profile.  That way they have a personal side and work side to the phone.  Thanks!!!
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HERNDONBRENT
Contributor
Contributor

Boe - what benefits do you see with using Samsung Knox over AiWatch Work Profile?  Our biggest thing with our phones from a management standpoint is being able to have them password protected and be able to wipe them if they are lost or stolen (wipe the company email).  Othewise the phone is pretty much like a personal phone to the employee.
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LukeDC
Expert
Expert

FYI - Knox is being shutdown:  https://support.samsungknox.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001649508

Go with Android Enterprise IMO, it's free and works across the board.
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