Mac App Updates Out of the Box

[walts_9]

Recently we have switched to using the out of the box macOS Sierra when new devices are deployed and use a combination of policies etc. to customize app installs or other customizations. I noticed that all of the built in Apple apps require an Apple ID for any updates when this is done. I have each Mac in our organization set to update the App Store apps automatically. Is there any way around providing an Apple ID for these updates? Do I need to assign the built in apps via VPP in order for them to receive updates? That seemed somewhat illogical to me since the apps come with MacOS already.

[tak10]

I think that is happening because out of the box image has iWorks apps already installed but the downloaded Sierra image from the app store doesn't contain the iWorks app. To accommodate for both versions of the images, you will need to validate these apps with VPP. I don't have direct experience with the macOS but I had the same issue with the iOS devices. When I wipe the device, the iWorks apps are not pre-installed, out of the box device had iWorks app pre-installed.

[Look · Accepted solution]

If you do assign them in VPP then it should take ownership of them and update them automatically.
The issue with the built in ones is that they are personally owned with the ownership belonging to the first person to sign in, you can't manage them because (as illogical as it sounds) they are not yours to manage.
I believe you can sometimes negotiate with Apple to effectively redeem the free apps for a VPP version if licensing is an issue, but since they moved to giving them for free to education I haven't had to do it for us (we can just register and claim as many as we need).