Configuring Apple Apps (Apps & Books)

Table Of Contents

1. Requirements
2. Create Your Location Token
3. Add Your Location Token To Addigy
4. Add Apps To Your Token
5. Adding Apple Apps To Addigy
6. Deployment Preferences

Requirements

Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager (ABM/ASM) provide the same methods of purchasing and assigning apps from the App Store using Apple Apps (formerly Apps & Books). Below are the requirements to configure Apple Apps:

1. An Apple Business Manager account.
2. Administrator access in Apple Business Manager.
3. Owner access in Addigy (or sufficient privileges to edit Integrations & Settings).
4. A MDM Enrollment Profile configured in the policy that will be deploying Apple Apps.

Note: Content tokens should not be re-used as doing so may cause issues with deployment. If you are migrating from another MDM provider, or if a token has previously existed in any other MDM server (even if it has since been removed), it is best practice to create a brand new content token to use in Addigy.

Create Your Location Token

Prior to configuring Apple Apps in Addigy we need to setup what is required in Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager. First create your location token by following these steps:

1. Navigate to Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager.

2. Click on Locations in the left column.

3. Click the Add button to add a new location and fill in the required details. Save your new location.

4. Click on your name towards the bottom left corner of the page and click Preferences. 
5. Navigate to Payments and Billing then scroll down until you see the Content Token you created.
6. Click on Download to download your token. 

Add Your Location Token To Addigy

1. Navigate to the desired policy > Integrations & Settings > Apple Apps
2. Click on Upload New Token and select the token you downloaded.
   • Note: You can select a token that is currently in use by another policy but licenses will be shared between all policies that have the token in use.
3. Review the token details and click Save.

Note: The same Location Token can be used in multiple policies within the same tenant without issue. Doing so will allow you to use the same Apple Apps assets in multiple policies. The available licenses for those assets will be shared by the policies which use the token.

Add Apps To Your Token

1. Navigate to Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager.
2. Click on Apps and Books on the left column.
3. Search and select the App you want to purchase licenses.
   • Note: Before purchasing an app verify its compatibility with your devices. As an example, WhatsApp Messenger says it is compatible with iOS and macOS while PayPal is only compatible with iOS:             
4. Choose the location token you want to assign the app to, choose the quantity of licenses you want to purchase, and click Get.

View Apple's user guide on Selecting and buying content in Apple Business Manager for additional details.

Adding Apple Apps To Addigy

1. Navigate to the desired policy > Software > Apple Apps.
2. Click the empty box next to each app you want to add to the policy. Once all apps have been selected click on Add/Remove and click Add to policy. Click Confirm to confirm the change. Upon the next policy deployment each device will receive the assigned apps.

Note: Apple Apps can be deployed to individual devices via GoLive. View Deploying Apple Apps to Individual Devices via GoLive for more info. 

Expected Behavior for Unsupervised Devices

Unsupervised devices will receive the following prompt when an Apple App is deployed: 

If the prompt is not accepted, the app will not be installed on the device. Be sure to advise your end-users that these prompts must be accepted if you are working with unsupervised machines. There is no way to suppress or work around this prompt on Unsupervised machines. 

For more information about device supervision, see: Overview: Device Supervision

Deployment Preferences

View the articles below to learn more about these deployment preferences:

• Install As Managed
• Auto Updates
• App Configuration

If you encounter any problems with deployment, tips for troubleshooting Apple Apps can be found here:

Apple Apps: Troubleshooting Tips