42Gears Support For The New Version Of iOS – iOS 13

The new version of iOS, iOS 13, boasts many impressive features for enterprises such as User Enrollment, distribution of corporate apps and SSO extension. iOS 13 makes it easier for businesses to manage Apple devices. For example, the User Enrollment feature introduced in the latest release offers IT admins granular level control of business apps and data on devices under BYOD strategy.

Let’s take a closer look at what iOS 13 brings to the table and how 42Gears support these features. 

iOS 13 features supported by 42Gears UEM

At WWDC 2019, Apple announced that some of the features introduced in this release may impact mobile deployments in enterprises significantly. Let’s discover how.

1. User Enrollment

This new feature has been designed for enterprises that allow their employees to use their personal devices for work (BYOD). User Enrollment allows IT admins to secure corporate data on personal devices while preserving user privacy. With User Enrollment, a user can have two Apple IDs on the same device – a personal ID and a Managed Apple ID (that is created by the enterprise).

The Managed Apple ID can be used by an Enterprise Admin to push managed applications to the device, while the device owner can use their personal Apple ID to install the applications of their choice.One of the main characteristics of User Enrollment is that the MDM cannot query any sensitive information from the device:

For example, with User Enrollment the MDM server cannot

1. wipe a device
2. see the apps installed on a device
3. configure device-wide VPN or manage the WWAN radio
4. query device identifiers like serial number or IMEI

However, MDM can still control the device to a certain extent by:

1. Applying per-app VPN profiles
2. Configuring mail, Wi-Fi
3. Defining a password policy 

2. Single sign-on extension

The SSO Extension capability added in iOS 13 allows application developers to add SSO capabilities to their applications with minimal effort. To do this, app developers must include SSO extensions in their application. The extension is typically provided by an Identity Provider and it implements support for the required authentication protocols and also the communication with the IdP.

In addition, these SSO extensions support both Face ID and Touch ID, which means they are both convenient to use and secure.

3. Distribution of Corporate Apps

Enterprises that needed to deploy in-house applications earlier had to develop the apps in house and then sign  with an Enterprise key to deploy them to their users. This deployment was usually done with the help of an MDM using the MDM’s infrastructure itself. So, enterprises had to support two methods of installing applications – the method outlined above for in-house applications and the App Store for publicly available applications.

This was primarily because Apple’s B2B app store did not allow enterprises to develop applications for themselves. Now, enterprises can build and deploy enterprise applications using Apple’s infrastructure.

4. Restrictions removed from MDM mode

Apple has made supervision mandatory for some restrictions. Only supervised devices will get these restrictions such as personal app installation, FaceTime, Safari, Siri, app removal, iTunes, iCloud data usage, multiplayer gaming, Game Center friends and explicit content. 

5. New restrictions

Some new restriction profiles for iOS 13 are Find My Device, Find My Friends, Quick Path Keyboard, Allow hotspot modification and WiFi modification. 

Final word

iOS 13 has brought the biggest changes in Apple MDM since iOS 7 and will impact the industries across the world. Enterprises before choosing a UEM platform should check if it has support for the new version i.e. iOS 13. 42Gears UEM solution is equipped to support the above-mentioned changes brought in iOS 13 and offers full support to our customers to deploy iOS devices worldwide.