Skip to main content

Question for how/if we have controls to deploy a specific app version to iPads. We have a couple applications we use and work closely with the developer and schedule when we make the update available on our EFB iPads. We use the check boxes ‘Schedule Jamf Pro to automatically check the App Store for app updates’ and ‘Force App Update’ to accomplish this. Today is the first time we noticed a different version was installed than what Jamf Pro is reporting as available.

This is what is showing under Mobile Device Apps.

Does it always install the newest version of what’s available in the Apple store via Self Service regardless of what Jamf Pro is reporting? 

When looking at the Inventory for the iPad we see that 10.5.1 was installed.

 

May be you check with the developer, ask them to / you distribute specific versions via Apple Business Manager’s Custom Apps program. Then, assign and deploy that exact version using Jamf — no App Store versioning drift.

My organization tightly controls the version of Enterprise App Store applications on our devices. Essentially with the app store, the device will install whatever version is available in the app store regardless of the version you put in the Mobile Device App profile. To prevent newly released versions from installing prematurely on devices, we turn off the “force auto update” option on the mobile device app profile before we release the new app version to the app store. When we want to release the new version, we create a new mobile device app profile for the new version and then scope devices/groups to that profile and enable “force auto update” on the profile. At that point devices will update to the new version. 

Another word of caution, once the new app version is released to the app store, any newly enrolled or assigned devices will install the new version, not the old version regardless of the profile setup in Jamf. This is an Apple limitation in the app store. My advice is to not release the new version to the store until your organization is ready to actually deploy it to your field. 

App version pinning is coming to iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 with DDM.

Link: https://www.jamf.com/blog/wwdc25-key-takeaways-for-commercial-organizations/

 

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings