Managing new Apple devices with Omnissa

Apple continues to innovate in their device lineup and this week they launched some highly anticipated new iPad Air, MacBook Air and Mac Studio models. A critical part of the overall ecosystem, Omnissa Workspace ONE delivers support for these new Apple devices so that our customers can enroll, secure and manage them. 

New Apple Devices 

The new iPad Air comes in 4 storage capacity options, with cellular option and is supercharged with the powerful Apple M3 chip.  The new MacBook Air comes in 3 CPU/GPU/storage configurations and is now powered by the Apple M4 chip and has up to 18 hours of battery life.  Mac Studio has been enhanced with two new flavors, Mac Studio with M4 Max and Mac Studio with M3 Ultra. And two weeks ago, Apple also introduced the new iPhone 16e, based on the latest A18 chip with improved battery life and support for Apple Intelligence. 

Support in Workspace ONE UEM 

As organizations gear up to deploy these new Apple devices, IT teams are tasked with ensuring a frictionless experience for employees. Workspace ONE UEM is ready to help, allowing organizations to hit the ground running. 

Workspace ONE UEM has been updated to support these new devices, allowing IT admins to configure policies and manage them out of the box. For SaaS environments, new device models were seeded into Workspace ONE UEM this week. For On-premises customers, a device seed script is available from Omnissa Connect.    

IT admins can also prevent users from enrolling new devices that may not yet have been approved by IT. Using the Workspace ONE UEM Enrollment Restrictions, IT admins can block new devices or devices running new operating systems as necessary. 

Key benefits of Workspace ONE UEM’s support for new Apple hardware 

• Immediate enrollment and deployment 

Workspace ONE UEM’s integration with Apple Business Manager (ABM) allows for automated, zero-touch enrollment of the latest devices over the air. As soon as employees unbox their new hardware and power it on, the devices are enrolled, configured, and ready to use within minutes. Workspace ONE’s intelligent workflows push all necessary apps, policies, and configurations to the device, creating a hassle-free experience.  Admins can also set a minimum OS for a device during Automated Device Enrollment (ADE), which will force the device to update to a specific OS (or the latest) prior to enrollment. 

• Leveraging declarative device management for software updates 

Workspace ONE UEM supports Apple’s declarative device management (DDM), Apple’s proprietary MDM framework that streamlines communication with the Workspace ONE UEM server and proactively reports device state changes.  The most important aspect of DDM for most IT teams is software update enforcement.  This allows admins to select an OS version and set the date to automatically update their fleet and then delivers escalating automated alerts to end users before the update is enforced. 

New Operating Systems – iOS 18.4, macOS 15.4, visionOS 2.4 and more 

Apple recently announced betas for iOS 18.4, macOS 15.4, visionOS 2.4, tvOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. These operating systems were supported in Workspace ONE UEM SaaS environments within 24 hours of the beta announcement. For on-premises customers a seed script can be downloaded from Omnissa Connect. 

Adding beta OS versions to Workspace ONE UEM enables admins to test enrolling and managing devices with these operating systems prior to release. 

Apple also has several new MDM configuration payloads and keys available for these new operating systems. You can easily test these new keys using the Workspace ONE UEM Custom Settings profile. Here’s an example implementing the new iOS 18.4 restriction keys using Custom Settings. 

If your organization needs to manage new Apple hardware, Workspace ONE has you covered.  With Workspace ONE UEM, organizations can begin leveraging these new, advanced technologies from day one, providing employees with the very latest tools to stay ahead of the curve. 

Additional Resources 

For on-premises customers, download the device model and OS seed scripts from Omnissa Connect today. 

For more information on declarative device management support for macOS, see our blog HERE. 

For more information on declarative device management support for iOS, see our blog HERE.