Getting to know App Installers

The importance of app management cannot be overstated.

Managing apps through their lifecycle is a critical component of an IT admin’s job and an important part of an end user’s daily experience. While sourcing apps and managing where they are hosted certainly matters in a comprehensive app strategy, the most important component is keeping apps up-to-date.

The problem with app management

Often referred to as patch management, this process of monitoring and updating software is both a necessary and time-consuming task for IT teams. Volume purchasing through Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager allows you to manage updates for apps purchased in volume in a simple and automated way.

However, for apps distributed outside of the Mac App Store, updates require a more involved approach.

As the job of admins becomes increasingly complex, many of our users have been asking for a workflow that mirrors the simplicity of the Mac App Store — but for the titles organizations need to source from vendors directly.

Our solution: Jamf App Installers

A streamlined way to deploy applications and automatically keep them up-to-date

Jamf Pro can help admins manage other Jamf apps, obviously— but Jamf can also package and manage outside apps for you. App Installers offers a streamlined way to deploy and update Mac applications, removing the tedious tasks of sourcing, deploying and maintaining non-Mac App Store titles.

Part of the Jamf App Catalog, App Installers is a curated collection of Jamf-managed and Jamf-provided installer packages that automate and streamline updating and deploying third-party apps. App Installers is an important way for Mac admins to stay on top of app lifecycle management.

That's right; Jamf will repackage your third-party apps for you. And all packages Jamf creates are code-signed by Jamf to make them suitable for MDM deployment.

There is no additional cost for App Installers; it comes standard with any Jamf Pro Cloud subscription.

How does App Installers work? Is it only for Jamf apps?

It's specifically for third-party apps, actually. Jamf Pro automatically sources packages from vendors, repackages them if necessary, and then updates and deploys these titles to designated Mac machines in a Smart Group. Smart Groups aid administrators in keeping track of apps based on user, license, device or any other parameters they wish to set. App Installers supports both Intel and Apple Silicon machines. App Installers performs several validations in the background. For instance, MDM commands are sent only to computers from the target Smart Group that have supported chipsets and that do not have the latest version of a given software title installed yet.

Apps offered through App Installers

We currently have approximately 700 actively updated software title patch definitions available in our app catalog. That list grows as Mac admins request new titles. In most cases, we publish updates to App Installers within one business day of an update being detected.

Increase security with Jamf App Installers

Jamf takes security seriously, That’s why we take several steps to verify the integrity of each package before making it available for deployment. Once the package is available, App Installers will be installed automatically, with the latest available version, to all compatible Macs in the designated group by the admin. App Installers will silently install in the background and users will not need to take any action. It's hands-off for IT admins with the confidence of knowing apps are up-to-date and secure, and users can go about their day with an easy and seamless experience that keeps them productive.

Discover Jamf App Installers

To learn more details about how Jamf App Installers works, please see our product documentation.