Application Management & Distribution for Mac (macOS) Devices
  • 29 Sep 2023
  • 1 Minute to read
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Application Management & Distribution for Mac (macOS) Devices

  • PDF

Article Summary

Application Management is one of the important facets of Device Management. From the initial setup to ongoing maintenance of the device, IT Admins need a mechanism to remotely install and update the applications.

Scalefusion offers Application Management capabilities by using the Apple MDM protocol to deploy and install applications developed for macOS. Apple MDM protocol supports remotely installing and updating Apple VPP apps and Product Archive Package (pkg) files.

Please note that Scalefusion does not offer a macOS agent and uses Apple MDM commands to install the applications.

Please follow the links below, Based on the type of application that you want to deploy,

Apple VPP Applications

Applications that are available in the Apple Store for macOS can be bulk-procured or purchased using Apple's Volume Purchase Program. Once you have procured the licenses, you can then use the guide to Install Apple VPP Apps to install them on the Scalefusion-managed macOS devices.

Product Archive Packages (PKG)

PKG files are compressed installer files generated & signed by the app developers using the productbuild command or a third-party packaging tool. These are the standard formats for Enterprise installation, and Apple MDM protocol provides inherent support for these formats, making them a preferred choice of distribution for Scalefusion as well. Please refer to our guide Installing Enterprise Apps to upload and install the applications remotely on Scalefusion-managed macOS devices.

Disk Image Files (DMG)

DMG files are basically a digital reconstruction of a physical disk, and some developers prefer packaging their apps as DMG files as they can be used not only to package the software installer but additional files as well. However, Apple MDM does not support their distribution natively and they usually need to be packaged or converted into a PKG file and signed using a developer certificate before they are distributed. Please refer to our guide on Converting a DMG to a PKG File to convert a DMG file before it can be distributed via Scalefusion.

In case you have any questions or need support, please reach out to support@scalefusion.com for further help.


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