Fleetsmith customers unhappy with loss of third-party app support after Apple acquisition – ProWellTech

When Apple confirmed that it had taken over Fleetsmith, a provider for mobile device management, on Wednesday, but it seemed an uncomplicated purchase, however Fleet smith Customers quickly learned that important functionality was no longer working – and many were not happy about it.

Apple System administrators complained on the morning of the announcement of the takeover on social media that the company no longer allowed them to connect to third-party applications.

“Primarily Fleet smith You have managed a third-party app catalog so you can deploy Chrome or Zoom on your Macs, for example, and Fleetsmith manages security updates for those apps. That was the main reason we bought Fleetsmith, ”said a Fleetsmith customer to ProWellTech.

The customer added that the company described this functionality as a key feature in a corporate blog post::

Fleetsmith does it all for you automatically. Once enforced, the version is downloaded and queued for immediate installation across the device fleet. Most apps are automatically and automatically updated after the restart. However, users can also perform the update manually. Our agent regularly reminds users of the update. As soon as the enforcement date is reached, you have the option to save work and carry out the update yourself.

As it turned out, Apple had made it clear in an email to Fleetsmith customers on the day of the transition that this feature was discontinued. The email contained links to several help articles that should help administrators make the transition. (The email is included at the end of the article).

The general consensus among admins I spoke to was that these articles were not particularly helpful. While describing a way to fix the problems, they said that Apple has turned a highly automated experience into a highly manual one, effectively eliminating the benefit of the speed and ease of use that the feature’s initial update brings.

Apple confirmed that it had replied to some help ticket requests after the changes this week, saying that it would soon restore some catalog app configurations and work with affected customers if necessary. However, the company did not make it clear why this functionality was removed in the first place.

Fleetsmith offered some key features that appeal to Mac system administrators. For starters, they could set up new Macs automatically right away. This way, they can ship a new Mac or another Apple device. Once the employee turns it on and connects to WiFi, it connects to Fleetsmith, where system administrators can track usage and updates. In addition, system administrators were able to enforce Apple security and operating system updates on corporate devices.

In addition, it could do the same with third-party applications like Google Chrome, Zoom, or many others. When these companies released a new update, system administrators could ensure that all users were running the latest version on their computers. This is the key functionality that has been removed this week.

It’s not clear why Apple removed these features described in the email to customers, but it’s likely that most of these features will not be restored, except that some catalog app configurations will be restored.

Email Fleetsmith customers on the day of acquisition with the changes:

Attempts to ask the founders of Fleetsmith for a comment were unsuccessful. Should this change, we will update the article.