Update Matrix Application in Airwatch

Airwatch by VMware
#1

Hi, first post here. I am trying to find out how Airwatch handles new a new version of an application.

I have an Organization Group for Matrix Tablets which has 4 profiles assigned and 1 Application, Matrix 1.4.1.
We now wish to deploy Matrix 1.6.0.
I have uploaded the .apk file but want to know what will happen if I assign it to the Matrix Tablets Org group.
I don’t want it to suddenly download it to all the tablets.
Reading the guide, when I assign it, I set the delivery method to either ‘On Demand’ or ‘Auto’.
If I set it to Auto, will it automatically download it to all the tablets (57) in the group or will it only download it on enrolment?

I am hoping that it will only do it at enrolment so I can control the upgrade by moving the tablets out of the Org group to uninstall the current version then add it back in to install the new one.

Any thoughts?

Ray

#3

Hey Ray. If you set it to “On demand”, it will not be downloaded to the devices unless the user actually requests it through the App Catalog. If you set it to “Auto”, the application will be downloaded automatically to all devices in scope.

When it comes to new versions of the application, you can either choose to have it automatically pushed to all devices which already have it installed, replacing the existing version or you can just retire the old version making the new one available but not pushing it automatically to the devices which have the previous version installed.

I hope this helps.
K

#4

Hi @Ray_McD

You can also find more information here on how Workspace ONE batches application releases.
Note: The default batch sizes are already set to the VMWare recommended values.

If you are on a VMWare hosted cloud instance you should not have to worry too much about an application update as they will handle bandwidth, if you are more concerned about the network impact or device data then start to consider breaking your users into multiple Assignment Groups and then setting time based deployments.

Also keep in mind some scenarios may cause delays in the application update process. i.e. device lock state

#5

HI Ray,

If i understood you correctly, you want to have 2 versions of the same app available at the same time for different devices.

If app set to auto it will be pushed to device as soon as device checked in.

So would suggest you to:

  1. upload new version of an app not as an “add new version” but separately
  2. select distinctive criteria to create an assignment smartgroups for both version
  3. consider to use exclusions while assigning an app either via separate smartgroup, or via usergroup within same assignment.

hope that it is relevant to what you are after.