Mac Apps - JAMF Catalog, but allow built-in auto updates

[DennisMX]

We are using the Mac Apps with the Jamf Catalog packages to keep some of our client-side apps up to date.
Most of the time that work great and gets all of the clients to a better state then they were before using this feature.
But the issue we found is that the updates are slowly spread across the devices AND it block the auto-update feature for eg Google Chrome.

This way more devices then we want are running an older version; they will get the update but not as fast as we want in this occassion.
This auto-update feature is blocked for eg Chrome, but for Brave it is not.

Will this be made a free choice?
What is the best option to push an update without spending much time on packaging?

[sdagley]

@DennisMX This is the tradeoff for Jamf Catalog apps, if you deploy apps from the catalog then the updates are controlled by the catalog. If you want better control over updates, then the Jamf Catalog may not be appropriate. If you haven't already take a look at the combination of AutoPkg/AutoPkgr if you need to review installer packages before they're deployed in your environment, or Installomator if that's not a requirement.

[phunkywan]

I had a call with a Jamf engineer about this and like @sdagley said, Jamf Catalog wants to takeover updates. Even the the recommended configuration profile has the updates disabled.

[JustinC]

@DennisMX in most cases we are not blocking the apps built in auto update mechanism with App Installers. We were only doing it with software titles where we are getting conflicts between the built in auto-update mechanism and App Installers which was resulting in corrupted apps on the end user Macs. We are about to roll out a change to the Adobe titles in App Installers to allow them to auto update again which should only leave (I believe) 3 titles left in App Installers where the auto update mechanism is blocked. Those titles being Chrome, Slack and Zoom.

[DennisMX]

@Just Thanks for your reply.
Chrome is the one we are we see the user questions coming from.
3 days after the release of the latest Chrome version Patch Management reports only 47% is updated.
The mac Apps options shows 87% installed.

For testing i've had a policy setup for daily inventory updates, so Patch Management should be close to the actual values...