WWDC 2023: the good surprises announced by Apple!

The 2023 Apple WorldWide Developers Conference has just ended. Specialized Apple IT administrators and experts were able to discover a lot of new features and good news!

Focus on the main announcements made by Apple during this annual major event for the brand.

‍

Apple ID management, on your own domain

This year, Apple is making more versatile Apple ID identifiers with updates to Continuity, Apple Wallet, and iCloud Keychain.

Administrators also benefit from an additional level of control to encourage their users to connect to the applications and services they need. 🔑

The management of Apple identifiers is also “democratizing” and allows them to be used in more situations.

A key advantage is being able to separate personal and professional data, when registering a device. This feature is ideal for a BYOD operation. 💻

Apple also now allows you to manage your own Apple IDs, linked to your own domain. You can federate them with an Identity Provider such as Azure AD, Okta, or Google Cloud Identities.

In addition, restrictions that were previously restrictive in a professional environment are finally being lifted. Now you can:

• Link a bank card for Apple Pay ;
• benefit from the following features: Handoff, the universal clipboard, the Continuity camera and the Universal Control.

Your Apple Business Manager administrator will now be able to enable or disable features, making these accounts much more useful.

When it comes to Azure AD and Google Cloud Identities, third-party identity providers are now compatible (provided they use OpenID Connect).

iCloud Keychain Support

Another useful improvement to managed credentials is the addition of support for iCloud Keychain. This allows IT professionals to automatically deploy access codes And authentication keys on managed devices. This is a significant step forward in eliminating the need for passwords in business.

This feature is also based on the possibility, also announced at WWDC 2023, for user groups to add and change passwords and authentication keys, thus allowing all members of the group to stay up to date.

Enrolling a device into your MDM, via a user account, on macOS

Until recently, signing up for an MDM solution involved manually adding a configuration profile to the device. ✍️

Since 2021, it has been possible to enroll a device on an MDM using a managed Apple ID. Apple goes further: this feature will now be available on macOS Sonoma, and is expected to completely replace profile enrollment in the future.

‍

Management of updates via the DDM

Recently, Apple introduced significant changes in update management through the use of Declarative Device Management (DDM).

Previously, MDM solutions were consultative, where the control center sent a request every evening to perform a check-up on the devices.

However, with the advent of DDM, devices automatically perform checks with each detected action. They thus become proactive and autonomous. This means they can take corrective action and report task status to the server themselves.

This evolution shows significant progress in terms of responsiveness and the updating of information, thus improving the efficiency and speed of the update process for Apple devices.

Resetting a device made easy

A new feature offers the possibility to:

• easily reset a device completely ; 🖥️
• to push a Wi-Fi profile before registering;
• and thus automatically save it so that it arrives directly at the home screen without requiring any intervention.

In other words, with a simple MDM command, you can:

• reset one or more devices ;
• The Deploy fully, including the installation of applications;
• all without the need to connect them physically!

The only limitation is that it will not be possible to force a default language. The language previously used on the device will be used after the reset.

‍

Create user accounts on the fly with Platform SSO

The “Platform SSO” feature aims to enable the use of business accounts hosted by identity providers (IdP) such as Azure AD, Google Cloud Identities, Google Cloud Identities, Jumpcloud, OneLogin, and others, by Replacing the Active Directory connection.

In the future, macOS should offer the ability to dynamically create a local user account from the login window, based on information provided by the identity provider, similar to Jamf Connect.

‍

Automatically associate a device to a specific MDM solution by adding it to Apple Business

Recently, it's no longer necessary to go back to Apple Business Manager, after adding a device via Apple Configurator, to remove it from the Apple Configurator list and associate it with the MDM solution of your choice.

In fact, the application Configurator for iOS can now be configured for automatically assign a default MDM solution to any new device added, which greatly simplifies the process. 🎉

‍

Automated device enrollment on Mac

Many businesses want to make sure that some security configurations are in place even before the Mac is registered and the user signs in for the first time.

The aim is to be able to activate FileVault and to ensure that the Mac is running a specific version of the operating system. ⌨️

Apple announced the following enhancements at WWDC: macOS 14 allows your MDM solution to require FileVault to be activated during the Setup Wizard.

The recovery key can then be shared with the end user during setup or managed by the MDM system.

MDM may require the device to run a specific version of operating system to be able to register, which means that a user cannot access company services until they complete the update. 🦾

It works by using JSON to tell MDM what version of the operating system is running on the device.

If a new version is required, the user will be guided through the update process.

5G network and private network segmentation

Maybe your business is using a private 5G or LTE network?

These networks support the service levels and latency required by the latest generation of enterprise technologies. They also ensure a network connectivity over larger areas than what Wi-Fi can offer. ✅

iPads already support private LTE and 5G networks, especially thanks to the deployment of eSIM based on MDM.

This capability is now also available on iPhones, along with support for standalone 5G private networks.

Apple has also made the use of these more energy efficient networks. SIM-based support is only activated when needed, thanks to geolocation. So it is good for the planet ! 🌳

Finally, Apple introduced support for 5G network slicing. It is an emerging technology designed to effectively manage the growing demands of connected services and devices.

‍

Provide secure access through relays

Apple also introduced a new way to provide secure access to corporate network resources: relays.

Supported natively on Apple devices, they are secure proxies. Apple says that these:

• Bring a better user experience ;
• are easier to manage than traditional VPN services. 👍

They can also be set up using MDM.

‍

Shortcuts are coming to IT pros

Apple has developed a series of Shortcuts for Apple Configurator.

These “shortcuts” include actions to:

• update;
• restore;
• erase;
• and prepare the iPhone and iPad.

At the WWDC conference, Apple presented a use of these Shortcuts in which a series of them were used to set up and provision an iPad.

Apple encourages MDM developers to integrate with these Shortcuts. We can therefore expect that the apple firm automates the configuration and management process as much as possible.

‍

Video conferences with the new macOS features

The latest macOS update includes innovative video conferencing features to optimize business productivity.

Here are a few innovations:

• the presenter overlay puts you in the spotlight during video calls by displaying you above shared content;
• it becomes possible to move freely and to give presentations in a natural way;
• you can add animated effects for non-verbal interactions during calls, with the “Reactions” feature.

These features are compatible with major video conferencing applications, offering engagement and feedback tools. Innovative video effects improve communication and enhance the impact of virtual presentations. Combined with the performance of Apple's Silicon processors and the stability of macOS, these enhancements provide productivity tools that are essential for successful remote meetings and collaborations.

‍

Lots of news, accessible via Rzilient

In conclusion, the 2023 Apple Developer Conference was rich in announcements of new features that will delight IT administrators and experts specializing in the Apple ecosystem.

Hardware providers such as Apple and Microsoft demonstrate that the topic of optimizing solutions to better manage hardware is now a concern.

The objectives are therefore to simplify and automate, to allow more economical and responsible management.

Thus, the combination of Apple's technological advances and the Rzilient platform indeed offers exciting prospects for transforming the experience of players concerned with computer hardware in business.

‍