#Modern Workplace

For the last few days I have been working on Android and iOS device management configuration in Microsoft Intune and as part of it I came across Organize apps feature aka Collections in Managed Google Play.  So what are Collections?  Collections are displayed on the front page of the managed Play Store app, allowing easy access to apps of your choice. For example, Organizations can make IT approved essential apps like Microsoft apps for quick access in the managed play store. However, as easy as this may sound, there are some caveats attached to this configuration. Tips from the field - 1. Creating a collection changes the Play Store layout type which requires that all apps must be added to a collection to be visible.  2. Deleting collections doesn't automatically revert to the basic layout. 3. Only approved apps can be added to a collection. 4. The managed Play Store app automatically displays a collection if it contains at least one app that's been made available to the...

While working on some web links for Android Enterprise enrolled devices, I stumbled upon the following message in Intune suggesting that Web apps aren't supported on Android Enterprise devices. So what is the alternative then? Well, it is still a web link but only in form of a published web app through the Managed Google Play. Managed Google Play web links are installable and manageable just like other Android apps. When selected, they will launch in the device's browser. One thing to note is that while Web links published through Managed Google Play Web apps will open with Microsoft Edge or any other browser for that matter, the complete support, particularly for all the display options available for web links (full screen, standalone, and minimal UI), will only work with the Chrome browser. So it is imperative to push a browser for the web links to open correctly. How to create Managed Google Play web link? 1. Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center . 2. Select Apps >...

  When it comes to managing third party browser extensions for macOS, there is no easy way. While Intune has the settings added for Google Chrome in settings catalog for Windows, the same is missing for macOS. Now that organizations are using a mixture of OS platforms between Windows and macOS, it is becoming increasingly important to have consistency in management of enterprise devices. Until such time, administrators will have to find ways to configure such settings in a supported manner. Luckily in case of macOS, one can configure .plist and\or .mobileconfig files to manage most of the settings if note all. In this blog, I will quickly demonstrate how to block Google Chrome extension and display a custom message to the end user. I am using Google Drive as an example. First we need to identify the extension ID and the easiest way is to access https://chromewebstore.google.com/ and search for the application. In this case we are searching for Google Drive. The search result w...

  While working with Google Chrome admx policies, a feature called  Safe Browsing  caught my attention. After doing some research I decided to blog my thoughts on it and how it can be enabled using Intune. What is Safe Browsing? Safe Browsing helps in protecting against phishing, social engineering, malware, unwanted software, malicious ads, intrusive ads, and abusive websites or extensions. Chrome contacts Google's servers periodically or real-time (depending on the protection level) to download the most recent Safe Browsing list of unsafe sites and is stored locally in the system. Chrome checks the URL of each site visited or file that is downloaded against this local list.  When Chrome starts, and on each update of the Safe Browsing list, Chrome scans extensions installed in the browser against the Safe Browsing list. If an extension on the list is found, Chrome will disable the extension. Different levels of Protection are -  Enhanced protection (Recomm...

Recently, I was looking at some compliance reports for Android enrolled devices in Intune and Google's Cloud DPC caught my attention.  This got me curious and while researching I realized that there is very little documentation available in relation to Google's Cloud DPC and Intune so I decided to blog about it. Before we dive into it, lets see how DPC fits in Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) model first. An Android Enterprise solution is a combination of three components: EMM console, Android Device Policy, and managed Google Play. EMM console EMM solutions typically take the form of an EMM console—a web application you develop that allows IT admins to manage their organization, devices, and apps. To support these functions for Android, you integrate your console with the APIs and UI components provided by Android Enterprise. Android Device Policy All Android devices that an organization manages through your EMM console must install Android Device Policy during setup. Andr...