Prebuilt Apps are the easiest and most efficient way to manage macOS application lifecycles through Addigy, with an easy-to-search catalog of the most popular applications and a set-it-and-forget-it style of deployment. You can deploy exact versions of an application or configure auto-updates. This article explains what end users will see and experience when Prebuilt App updates are available or enforced on their device.
How Updates Work
Addigy checks whether Prebuilt Apps are up to date with each regular policy deployment (approximately every 30 minutes). The update experience depends on whether the app is open or closed at the time of the check:
- App is closed: The update installs silently in the background. The end user is never interrupted.
- App is open: The end user is prompted to update or defer. The frequency of this prompt is configurable in policy settings — the default is every 8 hours (about once per workday).
Note: If a Prebuilt Apps deployment schedule is set, update prompts will not appear outside of the configured schedule.
Update Prompts
When Addigy detects that an open app has a pending update during a policy run, a single prompt appears giving the end user the option to Defer or Update. The prompt displays the enforcement date so the user knows their deadline.
- The prompt remains on screen for 60 seconds. If the user takes no action, it counts as a deferral. Deferrals are logged in the Policy Status.
- After the user accepts or defers the prompt, they will not be prompted again until the configured prompt frequency period has passed (default: 8 hours).
- For example: An end-user has 3 apps that need to be updated, and they are all open. After the user accepts or defers the prompt for the first app, they won't see prompts to update the other apps until the configured frequency period has passed (4 or 8 hours).
- The prompt utilizes our Self Service application. If there is a custom icon (.icns file) set for the device's Self Service configuration, that is the icon that will appear in the prompt. Learn more about Self Service here..
Enforcement
On the enforcement date, a prompt appears for each app that needs to be updated, notifying the user that the app will be closed to complete the update. Each prompt remains on screen for 60 seconds before the app is forcibly quit, updated, and automatically reopened.
Note: End users cannot defer past the enforcement date. The app will be closed and updated automatically if no action is taken when the enforcement prompt appears.
Menu Bar Notifications
The Prebuilt Apps Menu Bar is an opt in feature. To learn more about how inheritance works with the Menu Bar feature please see this article: Prebuilt Apps Policy Inheritance
To enable the Menu Bar go to Policy > Software > Settings and check the box to "Show available updates in the Menu Bar. The default behavior of the Menu Bar is off and it will not deploy.
The Prebuilt Apps Menu Bar shows when updates are available for apps, a red badge appears on the icon.
End users can click the icon at any time to check for available updates. Clicking it opens a popover listing all apps with pending updates, along with the date each update will be enforced.
The menu bar experience varies slightly depending on whether the device has a Self Service configuration associated with any of its policies:
-
With a Self Service configuration: The popover displays Self Service items (such as Open Self Service, Create Support Request, and Chat) alongside the list of available app updates.
-
Without a Self Service configuration: The popover displays only the list of available app updates. No Self Service items are shown.
End users can update individual apps using the Update button next to each app, or apply all pending updates at once using Update All.
Note: The menu bar icon uses your organization's custom Self Service icon (.icns file) if one has been configured. Otherwise, the default Addigy icon is used.