This article describes all the possibilities you have for the management of apps for Apple devices in Applivery.
Before starting let’s describe all types of apps that you can find in the Apple ecosystem:
Apple App Store Apps #
For supervised devices, apps can be silently installed in the background without the acceptance of the user.
3 main types of Apple App Store Apps can be deployed to Apple devices:
- Free Apps: Apps that are publicly available in the Apple Store and are free for purchase.
- Licensed Apps: Apps that are publicly available in the Apple Store but they are not free.
- Custom Apps: Company apps created for corporate purposes and private distribution. They must be uploaded to the Apple Store as Custom Apps and managed through Apple Business Manager (read more about Apple custom apps and Apple Business Manager)
Apps purchased vía Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) #
Additionally, Apple provides the Apple Volume Purchase Program to purchase app and book licenses, and install company-private apps to managed Apple devices running iOS and macOS. You can read more about the Apple VPP here.
In-house distribution (.ipa files) #
- Enterprise Apps: Apps that are signed with an Apple Enterprise Developer certificate created for internal usage and in-house distribution. Normally these Apps are distributed through alternative methods (such as Applivery App Distribution) or deployed to devices through an MDM (like Applivery Device Management for Apple devices). Note that this distribution method is being retired by Apple in favor of Custom Apps and requires an application process.
- AdHoc Apps: a less common type of app, normally created for testing purposes and internal distribution only. They are limited to a set of devices through the incision of their UDIDs into the provisioning profile.
How to install In-house Apps #
.ipa files to Apple devices.- Device level: the app will only be installed on the target device individually.
- Assign an App build that has been previously deployed to Applivery. Just click (1). You can read more about build management here.
- Install a
.ipafile after uploading it to your Workspace assets section. Just click (2) and select a.ipafile from your disk.
- Policy level: the app or apps will be installed on all devices associated with that Policy. In this case, there’s just one option which is assigning an App build that has been previously deployed to Applivery.
Go to Policies (1) > (Select a policy) (2) > Apps (3) > (4) > Applivery tab (5).
You can read more about build management here.
Apps management #
Now that we have a clearer view of the different types of apps, let’s take a look at the main App management capabilities you will find in Applivery and some requirements that you must take into consideration depending on whether the target devices are supervised or not (read more about supervised mode in apple devices):
| Feature | Supervised mode ON | Supervised mode OFF |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy Apps | ✅ | ✅ |
| Deploy paid Apps | ✅ | ✅ |
| Deploy Apps silently | ✅ | ❌ It requires Apple ID login |
| Configure Apps remotely | ✅ | ✅ |
| Update Apps remotely | ✅ | ✅ |
| Uninstall Apps remotely | ✅ | ✅ |
