iOS 11.3 Beta includes two new important MDM Feature - Update Control - Contact Containerization

Detlev Poettgen  Februar 1 2018 02:49:58 PM

It looks like Apples upcoming iOS 11.3 release will bring (beside others) two long missed MDM functions:

First new feature: Update Control

A new restriction "enforcedSoftwareUpdateDelay" allows an administrator to configure how many days an update will be delayed.
With the restriction in place, users of the managed devices won't even see the update until the specified number of days has elapsed. You can delay updates for up to 90 days.

The device must be supervised!

Second new feature: Contact Containerization

Prevent contacts in managed accounts, like your IBM Traveler mail account, from being used in unmanaged apps like WhatsApp or other accounts.
Contacts now obey existing managed data restrictions.

That will be a huge improvement. Contacts will then finally be part of the managed / unmanaged definition and handling on the device.
You can use the native Apple Mail, Calendar and Contacts app and the unmanaged WhatsApp App for example will not be able to get access to your synced contacts via your managed ActiveSync (Traveler or Exchange) account.

A few more new MDM features can be found here

I hope that Apple will ship these features in final release. At the moment they are part of the current beta.


Update 5th of March:

Apple shipped both with iOS 11.3.
I made an additional blog post regarding the Contact Containierization:

iOS 11.3 Contact Containerization - It simply works

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