Since our blog post in December 2017 in which we stated that our investments would be focused on Android Enterprise, we’ve been working hard to create the most robust Android Enterprise EMM solution possible. We worked closely with our customers to improve the user experience, close gaps and expand our Android Enterprise offering across BYOD, COPE and LOB use cases. The resulting increase in adoption of Android Enterprise has been phenomenal; the number of active Android Enterprise devices on our platform has grown tremendously since that blog post in 2017.
Today, we’re announcing product changes to further accelerate the use of Android Enterprise and ensure our customers have the best possible Android management experience. These changes are expected to take effect in November 2020:
• New Android 10 deployments must use Android Enterprise.
• New customers deploying Workspace ONE UEM for the first time will not have the option to use device administrator.
Why is VMware doing this?
With Android 10’s release last year, we already see several behavioral changes on device administrator deployments that lead to poor user experience and/or break critical workflows (such as the inability of a device administrator to bring itself to the foreground). Later this year, we will be required to update the Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub’s target SDK level to comply with Google’s Play Store policies (we’re currently planning to do so in our October release). Once we update our target SDK level, the deprecated APIs for device administrators on Android 10 can no longer be used (for example, passcode enforcement will no longer be possible), leading to a degraded management posture on the device. We want to ensure our product steers our customers toward best practices that provide the best user experience and management capability.
You can learn more about the device administrator changes on Android 10 by reviewing our podcast, knowledge base article and blog.
Learning more about VMware’s upcoming product changes to Android Management
The knowledge base article outlines the upcoming product changes in detail. If you’re using device administrator, we know that a large transition such as this isn’t always an easy one and can be a significant undertaking. To assist you with learning more about Android Enterprise and the various migration strategies available, the article also has links to a variety of resources we’ve put together to help you plan your migration.
We’re extremely excited about the future of Android management and look forward to working with you to continue building the best Android Enterprise solution possible.
