We recently announced support in Omnissa Workspace ONE^® for Apple declarative device management (DDM) covering both macOS and iOS/iPadOS platforms. That support includes software update enforcement and passcode configuration, among other things. You can read our blogs about DDM support for iOS here and for macOS here. By combining DDM with our new Workspace ONE modern architecture, we’ve helped ensure that the future — and present — of desired state management is bright, indeed. 

Extend Apple declarative device management with Workspace ONE

In regard to DDM, we will continue to add capabilities as quickly as possible. To that end, we will soon integrate declarative predicates and activations with Freestyle Orchestrator, making our low-code automation engine an even more powerful tool for Apple device management. We will also improve the user interface for software update enforcement and add advanced reporting capabilities. 

How Apple’s GitHub repository supports declarative device management

As we continue with our own efforts, Apple is also busy improving declarative device management. At their Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2024, they announced some upgrades to DDM software update enforcement, management of Safari extensions, and expanded capabilities for managing service configurations. 

To help mobile device management (MDM) providers quickly take advantage of their upgrades, Apple created a GitHub repository where they post all their latest DDM releases. This repository is easier for Apple’s engineers to update, and it makes it easier for us to build custom alerts and pull the latest code. 

Import Apple DDM configurations faster with Workspace ONE

In seeking greater efficiencies, we’ve released a direct integration with Apple’s GitHub repository that allows Workspace ONE to programmatically generate payload support by using Apple’s GitHub as the source of truth. Using rendering logic, we’re able to automatically import the majority of configurations from Apple’s GitHub repository and plug them directly into our data-driven user interface (DDUI). This allows us to bring new DDM capabilities to our customers faster, ensuring Day 0 configuration support for iOS/iPadOS and macOS. 

This integration is just one more proof point indicative of our dedication to making Apple device management a world-class experience for our Workspace ONE UEM customers. 

Note that this integration will only affect customers on our modern architecture. To learn more about modern architecture, please read this Tech Zone article: Workspace ONE UEM Modernization Wave 1.