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Manage Apple Business apps

To manage the apps you buy in Apple Business (formerly Apple Business Manager) with Sophos Mobile, you must transfer a content token from Apple Business to Sophos Mobile and configure app assignment.

A content token is valid for one year.

Warning

You can use each content token only for a single device management service, such as Sophos Mobile. To avoid accidentally assigning a token twice, we recommend revoking and removing any tokens used with other device management services before uploading a token to Sophos Mobile.

To set up managing apps from Apple Business, do as follows:

  1. Sign in to Apple Business with an account that has the Administrator or Content Manager role.

  2. Download a content token for the organizational unit containing the apps you want to manage with Sophos Mobile.

    See Manage content tokens in Apple Business.

    Note

    If there are several organizational units that contain apps you want to manage with Sophos Mobile, you must use a separate Sophos Central account for each organizational unit.

  3. In Sophos Mobile, go to Setup > Apple setup > Apple VPP.

  4. Configure the following settings:

    Setting Description
    Automatically assign iOS VPP apps on installation

    Select if and how Sophos Mobile automatically assigns Apple Business apps to users and devices.

    Prioritize device assignment: Sophos Mobile assigns apps to the device. If the device doesn't support assignment, Sophos Mobile assigns apps to the device user. For example, Apple User Enrollment devices only support user assignment.

    Prioritize user assignment: Sophos Mobile assigns apps to the device user. If there's no device user, Sophos Mobile assigns apps to the device.

    Disabled: You must assign apps manually. You can't assign macOS apps to users.

    Both options, Prioritize device assignment and Prioritize user assignment, turn on automatic device assignment.
    Automatically update iOS VPP apps

    When you turn this setting on, the following apps on Apple Business iPhones and iPads are updated automatically:

    • Device-assigned apps on devices with Apple Device Enrollment management mode.
    • User-assigned apps on devices with Apple User Enrollment management mode.

    For user-assigned apps on devices with Apple Device Enrollment management mode, users must check the App Store for updates.
    Apple ID The email address of your organization's Apple Account (formerly Apple ID).
    Country

    The App Store country.

    Some apps aren't available in certain countries. When searching for apps, Sophos Mobile uses the country you selected.

    For a list of country codes, see ISO Online Browsing Platform: List of country codes.
    Upload a file

    Upload the .vpptoken file with the content token you downloaded from Apple Business in step 2.

    Sophos Mobile shows the token information in Organization and Expiration date.

  5. Click Save.

You can now start assigning apps to devices. Before assigning apps to users, you must invite them to Apple Business apps. See Invite users to Apple Business.