KACE Cloud Mobile Device Manager

We are excited to announce our most recent update to KACE Cloud Mobile Device Manager!

What's New

This month we’re introducing two new features: Android Kiosk Mode and Device Pre-Enrollment. We’re also adding multi-server capabilities for our existing DEP/Zero-Touch enrollment feature as well as additional functionality to our existing Android App Usage Restrictions.

New Features:

Android Kiosk Mode

Kiosk Mode is a security feature that allows an admin to lock down a device so activity is limited to a specific app or task. For example, if a sales team uses certain devices exclusively for giving demos of their product, their admin can enable kiosk mode to run the specific demo software on those devices and nothing else. 

From the library, kiosk mode can be applied to an existing set of restrictions or when adding a new restriction set. An admin enables kiosk mode then selects packages from the app library that can be used on the device(s). An admin can also create a PIN that will allow a device to temporarily exit kiosk mode. This is a useful function if an admin ever needs to temporarily exit kiosk mode—for example, if a Wi-Fi configuration is no longer valid and they need to manually add a new one to regain connectivity.

Device Pre-Enrollment

The new Device Pre-Enrollment feature lets an admin set up targeted configurations in advance to be automatically deployed during enrollment. 

From the Devices section, an admin can choose to complete pre-enrollment by accessing Enrollment Options > Pre-Enroll Devices. The pre-enrollment form lets an admin enter device types, identifier types, device identifiers, add manual labels that will cause any associated policies to automatically deploy rules, restrictions, and other configurations at the time of enrollment. Note that if the pre-enrolled device matches any smart labels, configurations from policies associated with that label will be deployed during enrollment. An admin also has the option to pre-assign users to devices during pre-enrollment.

Feature Enhancements:

DEP Multi-Server Capabilities

Our DEP Zero-Touch enrollment feature enhancement lets an admin sync multiple DEP accounts with a single tenant. When an admin syncs multiple virtual MDM servers within DEP, it allows them to set a default DEP profile for each device type (iPhone, iPad, macOS, tvOS, iPod). Note that the default device types for each virtual MDM server are set within Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager, and a default DEP profile can be set for each DEP enrollment.

Android App Usage Retrictions

Basic usage restrictions for Android are currently available in the form of ‘Allow ALL approved apps’ and ‘Allow specific apps’. With this release, we’ve added the choice to ‘Block specific apps’. 

The ability to block specific apps is especially helpful when an admin needs to approve a broad set of applications across an enterprise, but also needs to allow a small subset of users to access specific apps exclusively—for example, a marketing team that requires access to Facebook and Twitter. Blocking apps can also serve as a security feature if an admin needs to immediately disable a specific app in the case of a vulnerability.