Deploying App Store Applications on Apple Devices
Publish Date:
Last Modified Date:
SOTI MobiControl
1427
Summary
This article documents the procedure to deploy applications to iOS and MacOS devices through the App Store.
Related SOTI ONE Platform Products
SOTI MobiControl
Related Device OS
MacOS;iOS
Environment
Prerequisites:
Apple Push Notification Service must be set up: https://www.soti.net/mc/help/v15.3/en/console/devices/managing/enrollment/apple/apns_install.html#:~:text=Procedure-,Select%20Global%20Settings%20from%20the%20main%20menu.,Create%2FModify%20APNS%20Configuration).
Process Description
The App deployment process involves the following stages:
• setting up Volume Purchase Program on MobiControl• purchasing the application on Apple Business Manager
• setting up an Application Deployment rule
Setting up Volume Purchase Program on MobiControl
- Log in to the Apple Business Manager portal.
- Navigate to Account > Preferences > Payments and Billing.
- Download the Apps and Books content token.
- On MobiControl, navigate to Global Settings > Apple > App Store License Management and select ADD.
- In the token upload wizard, give your account a name, upload the token previously downloaded, then select Save.
Purchasing the Application on Apple Business Manager
- Once the VPP has been set up, purchase the application you want to deploy by navigating to Apps and Books on Apple Business Manager.
- Search for the application and add the quantity required by selecting Get.
- Once the license is purchased, confirm the availability of the newly added app license on MobiControl. Do this by navigating to the added VPP account in Global Settings > Apple > App Store License Management.
Note: You should see the number of licenses purchased earlier in Apple Business Manager. If this hasn’t been updated, select Refresh to trigger a full synchronization of all app license information from Apple's App Store.
Optionally, Perform the Reconcile Licenses action to ensure licenses from applications that are no longer in use on devices are made available in the Apple Store as needed.
Setting Up the Application Deployment Rule
- On the MobiControl Web Console, navigate to Policies > Apps to add an app policy.
- Select the appropriate Apple family of devices.
- Give the app policy a name then select the Apps tab.
- Select Add to add an application.
- Select App Store as the source.
- Search for the purchased application to add it to the app policy.
- Select the more button (three dots next to the application) to open the configuration settings.
- Select the Installation Options tab to configure the following:
| Deployment Type | Select Mandatory/ or Suggested. |
| Request Device to Install Application | For unsupervised devices, check the Request Device to Install Application to prompt app installation. |
| Prevent removal of app by device user | Toggle Prevent removal of the app by the device user to prevent users from uninstalling the application. |
- Toggle on Enable Licensing and select the added VPP account to utilize the purchased licenses.
- Choose Device Based as the assignment type to deploy applications based on devices.
- Once configured, select Save and Assign to deploy the application to the devices you want to target.
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