Set up Apple App Store (iOS and iPadOS) and Google Play Store (Android) Associations

You can create an app catalog of the apps approved by the organization and facilitate distribution to the enrolled Android, iOS, and iPadOS devices. Apps from the Apple App store (iOS and iPadOS) and Google Play Store (Android) can be included to the catalog.

About this task

To include an app from the Apple App store or Google Play Store to the app catalog approved by the organization and add approved apps into the Appstore App Policy, do the following:

Procedure

From the WebUI main page, click Apps > MCM
On the Modern Client Management page, click Admin > Prestage Installers > Setup Appstore Associations. The following screen appears.
Under Operating System, select the OS.
1. Android
  - App Name: Enter an appropriate name for the app.
  - Bundle ID:
    - Bundle ID of an app from Google Play: Find the app in Google Play and click on it to go to the app’s page. The app ID is shown in the URL after ?id=. For example, the URL for outlook is https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.outlook and the bundle ID is com.microsoft.office.outlook.
    - Bundle ID of a private app: To know the bundle ID, from Admin Configuration UI, under Private Apps Configuration, click the desired private app icon; you can find the Bundle ID next to the APK file label.
2. IOS/iPadOS
  - Select the type of App:
    - Appstore: Select this option to add a normal Appstore App.
    - VPP: Select this option to set up the Apps that the organization has purchased in bulk through Apple's Volume Purchase Program (VPP).
    - Custom: Select this option to set up the customized apps that are created by the organization for unique needs of the business.
    Important: In MCM v3.0, to get the App Name, Bundle ID, and Store ID for the VPP and Custom apps, run Fixlet ID 421 Retrieve Available VPP and Custom Apps from Apple Business Manager.
  - App Name: Enter an appropriate name for the app.
  - Bundle ID: Bundle ID of the app from the App Store. If you know the Store ID, you can download the metadata of the app from the URL http://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=<enter the storeID of the app> and search for “bundleId” in the downloaded file to get the bundle ID.
    For example, for Microsoft Outlook, the store ID is 951937596, you can download the metadata file from the URL https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=951937596; and if you search for “bundleId” in the downloaded file, you get “com.microsoft.Office.Outlook”.
    Alternatively, there are also few web pages that make the bundle ID lookup easier; you can try one of them.
  - Store ID: You can find Store ID from the App Store URL. For example, the App Store URL for Microsoft Outlooks is https://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-outlook/id951937596 and the Store ID is 951937596. Store ID must include only the numerical part.
  - Remove app when MDM profile is removed: Select this checkbox if you want to remove the app when MDM profile is removed.
  - Prevent backup of app data: Select this checkbox to prevent backup of app data.
  - Assume Management: This option appears if you have selected VPP as the type of App.
    Note: Select this option for delivering apps to supervised Apple devices only. Do not select this option if the app is to be delivered to an Apple user enrolled device, as that option is not allowed for BYOD enrollments. For more information, see Known limitations.
Click Save.

Results

The app is added to the catalogue and listed on the Setup Appstore Associations page. Also when you create anAppstore App Policy, you can view the app listed, if you select the relevant operating system.

To delete an app from the catalogue and disassociate:

On the Setup Appstore Associations page, from the apps data grid, select one or more apps. The blue action bar appears.
Click Delete.

What to do next

While creating an Appstore app policy, you can select one or more apps from this app catalogue to add to the policy and in turn add the policy to a policy group to distribute the applications to eligible mobile devices.