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This is from the release about JAMF Pro 10.37, but leaves a lot to the imagination:

App Installers

App Installers allow you to deploy apps from the Jamf App Catalog to a smart computer group and automatically updates and deploys those apps. This streamlines the app lifecycle management process by removing the need to manually monitor, package, and update apps.

 

The documentation page isn't much more help:

Patch Management

You can manage the software updates in your environment using the built-in functionality in Jamf Pro. Managing software updates allows you to ensure that the software in your environment is up to date on target computers, and allows you to update the software if it is out of date.

You can manage both third-party macOS software updates and Apple Updates using the following methods available in Jamf Pro:

Patch Management

You can use the Patch Management workflow and other technologies available with Jamf Pro to manage the third-party macOS software updates in your environment. This method offers the capabilities to view the software currently installed on the computers in your environment, to notify when new software is available, and to distribute the new software to target computers.

App Installers You can use App Installers to distribute available third-party macOS software titles from the Patch Management Software Titles list in the Jamf App Catalog to a smart computer group. This method distributes the software title once and automatically updates the software title when a new version is released. Software Update

You can use Jamf Pro for Apple Updates by running Software Update on computers. This method allows you to install all updates available from Apple.

You can also manage the software updates in your environment using Title Editor, a Jamf-hosted service that extends the built-in Patch Management functionality in Jamf Pro. You can use Title Editor to create custom software titles, override existing patch definitions, and create custom patch definitions.

Related Information

Jamf Resources:

 

It sounds like I will be able to choose an app (eg: Google Chrome) from the App Installers section / Patch Management Software Titles list, Point it to a Smart Group (and only a smart group?), and it will automatically install said app to the machines in the smart group, and then automagically keep them up to date with no admin intervention?

I am currently using Patch Management and manually uploading .pkg files to JAMF Pro, creating new Patch policies whenever a new version comes out, and then scoping it via the same method I scope a Policy. The Macs come online, check in, and update their apps with some user notice if the app is open and silently if the app is closed.

Looking under Computers/MacApps, I have the following options:

O - App Source
Mac App Store (Relies on Apple's Mac App Store for updates)
O - Jamf App Catalog (preview) Relies on Jamf for updates
No cloud connection. Add a cloud connection via Cloud Services Connection

So I go to Cloud Services Connection and it asks for a JAMF username and password:
Cloud Services Connection Setup Enter your Jamf ID credentials to enable the Cloud Services Connection.

I add my email and password and it says now I am connected and gives a EULA to agree to regarding "yes, I own a license for the apps I am asking for".

Now, back to Mac Apps in JamfPro/Computers and I can now select an app like Acrobat Reader from the same list that Patch Management uses for updates, with an option to toggle "deploy" on and off, and a drop down menu of my Smart Computer Groups. 

I am guessing that this will look for my Intel Macs, push a copy of Acrobat Reader to them (not sure what happens if they already have it) and then automatically update it as new versions roll out with no admin interaction? And I am curious as to why I now need to make smart groups rather than using the old way of scoping like a policy? I thought the idea was to limit the use of Smart Groups as they can take a lot of CPU cycles?


Are you sure? Jamf said in their announcement that on-prem is not supported.


It is allowed to work now in because it's a "preview"

At some point, that will stop.

I had the same issue with the chrome app installer. When it patches chrome, it becomes unresponsive, so it is not just you.  I went back to using patch management because I can prompt the user to restart chrome, or have it quit on it's own after a set amount of time.  I like the idea and the ease of app installers, but it just does not work in a graceful way for chrome. I can't use that in production, our support center would be super mad at me. This will just generate support calls. I will spend the 5 minutes in patch management to avoid giving a user a negative experience.


Same problem. It also seems to be very slow rollout?  

I am also curious what the device limitations are. Is this for User approved devices only? Only 10.15+? Etc. I can't find any documentation that answers these questions. 

Same problem. It also seems to be very slow rollout?  

I am also curious what the device limitations are. Is this for User approved devices only? Only 10.15+? Etc. I can't find any documentation that answers these questions. 


It uses the Jamf agent, so there shouldn't be limitations on enrollment method.

If a user already has a specific app installed, does this uninstall/reinstall or does will the App Installer recognize the app is installed and simply patch as needed? 

In other words, can I deploy the app via this method and eliminate my Patch Management packages?

We're at 10.39.1 and the documentation is no clearer than it was in the beginning. I'm confused as hell about the work flow, the sequence and timing of events, scoping to smart groups only?... Even enabling the Cloud Services Connection to enable this isn't very clear. Sometimes Jamf's documentation is as obfuscated as Apple's.  I am definitely looking forward to using this but it's as clear as mud right now. 

I've been testing this out and have successfully deployed a number of applications to a smart group. When I add additional devices to this smart group after the initial deployment, I would expect (hope) that the apps are automatically pushed out to the newly added computers, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case. I've had to go back to each of the individual apps, disable the deployments, save it and then re-enable them to trigger the installations for the new devices in the group. This is very inconvenient if the feature is used to manage a large amount of applications.

We're at 10.39.1 and the documentation is no clearer than it was in the beginning. I'm confused as hell about the work flow, the sequence and timing of events, scoping to smart groups only?... Even enabling the Cloud Services Connection to enable this isn't very clear. Sometimes Jamf's documentation is as obfuscated as Apple's.  I am definitely looking forward to using this but it's as clear as mud right now. 


Hi @AVmcclint . We have taken this feedback onboard and have provided more information on the workflow and timing of events in the new version of the admin guide https://docs.jamf.com/10.40.0/jamf-pro/documentation/App_Installers.html

Hopefully this helps. Please let me know if there other areas where more information could be provided.

I've been testing this out and have successfully deployed a number of applications to a smart group. When I add additional devices to this smart group after the initial deployment, I would expect (hope) that the apps are automatically pushed out to the newly added computers, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case. I've had to go back to each of the individual apps, disable the deployments, save it and then re-enable them to trigger the installations for the new devices in the group. This is very inconvenient if the feature is used to manage a large amount of applications.


@Doof this shouldn't be the case. When App Installers checks for changes to the smart groups every 20-ish minutes, any new machines that appear in the smart group should receive the required software from App Installers. How long after adding a machine to a smart group were you waiting before disabling/re-enabling the App installer deployment?

If a user already has a specific app installed, does this uninstall/reinstall or does will the App Installer recognize the app is installed and simply patch as needed? 

In other words, can I deploy the app via this method and eliminate my Patch Management packages?


@gk96_2 if a machine in the smart group scope of an App Installer deployment already has the app installed, it will get updated to the latest version if an update is available and will receive all future updates (whilst is remains in the smart group). You shouldn't have to use Patch Management to deploy packages to any smart group that is part of an App Installer deployment.

@Doof this shouldn't be the case. When App Installers checks for changes to the smart groups every 20-ish minutes, any new machines that appear in the smart group should receive the required software from App Installers. How long after adding a machine to a smart group were you waiting before disabling/re-enabling the App installer deployment?


Thanks for the reply Justin. I gave it at least an hour. As a test I had 8 applications pointed to a smart group. I added about 30 new devices to the group. After about an hour after noticing no movement, I toggled off and on the deploy switch on 6 of the 8 applications, but I purposefully left two of the applications alone. The 6 applications I toggled on and off quickly deployed, but the remaining two I hadn't touched were still MIA even after leaving it overnight. I'm hoping the updates coming to app installers with this next version of Jamf Pro make this process a little more transparent.

@Doof this shouldn't be the case. When App Installers checks for changes to the smart groups every 20-ish minutes, any new machines that appear in the smart group should receive the required software from App Installers. How long after adding a machine to a smart group were you waiting before disabling/re-enabling the App installer deployment?


@JustinCI am seeing similar behaviour as well. New devices added to smart groups are not getting picked up and I have to manually toggle the Deployment on and off before they are picked up.

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