Self Service web clip or Self Service app? Pros and Cons to both for iOS

[belldesean]

I manage almost 7000 iPads in our school district and I'm trying to decide if we should use the Self Service web clip or the Self Service app. I have read about both of them in the admin guide but it doesn't really give me the information I am looking for. I want to know the pros and cons of both and what everyone else prefers. Thank you for your feedback.

[Sandy]

WebClip comes down fast and has an "Update All" button for apps
The WebClip is a must during rollouts when we just want kids to install their mail profile.

The app takes longer to show up on the device but is searchable

We still utilize both.

[belldesean]

Thanks, Sandy, for your input. So, in order to utilize both, do you offer them at the same time or use one for a time being and then switch to the other?

[Sandy]

LOL, the truth is I am on the fence about which feature is more important (update or search) so I have so far left them both there.
We now have Update Apps turned on Globally which somewhat deprecates the "Update All" button.
I have not had feedback either way or complaints that they both are on the devices.
I'm sure if I pulled off the WebClip, some would be happy, some would be mad.

[belldesean]

@Sandy Interesting, I am curious how you are able to utilize both, at the same time? I only see an option for turning one on or the other? On another note, you mentioned that you have Update Apps turned on globally? How is that working out for you? So far JAMF Support has deterred me from turning on this feature. I would love to utilize this option as it's a pain trying to stay on top of app updates. Even though the Self Service web clip has the option to update all apps I know for a fact that it does not successfully work IF the app in JAMF is not updated. The app in JAMF does not reach out to iTunes if the update all apps feature is not turned on. About 10 of our high use apps have the auto-update feature checked on, the rest of them do not. I have to manually go into each app and physically change the version of the app which is a waste of lots of time.

[Sandy]

Yes, in response to a few issues they have suggested we turn Update Apps off, but it is working ok, and we had MANY problems with app versions not matching iOS versions or vendors saying our Math App would work ... if only it was at the newest version(weekly) so this has been better than that!! And yes, trying to manage manual updates was ridiculous.

We have about 4500 iPads, our app catalog has 1,019 entries, but our building techs manage their own App Catalogs and so one app might have 7 entries, one per site.
I also offloaded a huge number of licenses into a location in ASM that does NOT sync with my jss. They just sit there, but can be transferred easily, if needed in at a legit site.

Self Service:
I have the Management Settings>Self Service> Install Automatically set to "Neither"
I can scope either option any old way I want:

I have a WebClip Configuration Profile with url set to: https://myjss:8443/mdss/?udid=$UDID

I have a device based app installation with the Custom Configuration:

<dict>
<key>INVITATION_STRING</key>
<string>$MOBILEDEVICEAPPINVITE</string>
<key>JSS_ID</key>
<string>$JSSID</string>
<key>SERIAL_NUMBER</key>
<string>$SERIALNUMBER</string>
<key>DEVICE_NAME</key>
<string>$DEVICENAME</string>
<key>MAC_ADDRESS</key>
<string>$MACADDRESS</string>
<key>UDID</key>
<string>$UDID</string> <key>JSS_URL</key> <string>https://myjss:8443/</string>
</dict>