Creating App Installers deployments for testing purposes
If you want to test an app in your environment before distributing it to the computers in your organization, Jamf recommends creating two separate App Installers deployments as follows:
Create a deployment for an app that is scoped to a target group containing test computers and select Automatic as the update method.
Create a deployment for the same app that is scoped to production computers and select Manual as the update method.
When you create the deployments this way, your test computers will receive updates automatically. You can then determine when to manually apply the update to your production computers, depending on the requirements of your organization.
Requirements
Jamf Standard Cloud-hosted or Jamf Premium Cloud-hosted environment
A Cloud Services connection
Target computers with macOS 10.13.6 or later
Ensure the Jamf management framework and Self Service checkbox is selected in Settings > Computer management > Security. This allows the App Installers service to display end user notifications with the Self Service icon when you distribute the software title.
To use the Log event notification for this app setting, ensure the checkboxes are selected for the events you want notifications for in your account notification settings in Jamf Pro.
In Jamf Pro, click Computers in the sidebar.
Click Mac Apps in the sidebar.
Click New.
Select Jamf App Catalog.
Click Next.
Click Add for the software title you want to distribute.
Read and acknowledge the Terms and Conditions.
Note:
Jamf Pro only displays the Terms and Conditions pop-up during the first App Installer deployment configured by each administrator.
Use the Configuration settings tab to configure the basic settings for the App Installers deployment.
You can choose a site, category, or target group from the pop-up menus, or type directly in the field to narrow down your search results.
Best Practice:
Target groups are limited to smart computer groups. To use a static computer group, create a smart group with the criteria "'Computer Group' member of 'name of static group'.
Select Install automatically or Make available in Self Service as the initial distribution method.
Note:
This setting determines the initial distribution of the app. Further updates are determined by what you select for the update method.
In addition, when you select Make available in Self Service, this gives the end user the ability to reinstall an app on their own if it is unintentionally removed or needs to be removed and reinstalled for troubleshooting purposes. This reinstall option will not overwrite an existing app.
If the app uses the same bundle ID and installation path as another app (e.g., Little Snitch 5 and Little Snitch 6), unknown versions will not be updated. This is due to a potential conflict that can occur. An unknown version is any version of an app that is not available as an App Installers title in Jamf Pro. You can identify these apps if the value of the metadata field Shared installation path is Yes.
Select Automatic or Manual as the update method.
Note:
When you select Manual as the update method, the last version available from the Jamf App Catalog is applied to the deployment. Then, when a new version is available, an information icon appears next to the version deployed on the summary view page that indicates the latest version. You can then click the Select version icon in the Action column to choose a newer version to apply to the deployment. The selected version will remain in place on computers in your scope until you manually select a newer version or change the update method. This includes any new computers that are added to the scope.
(Optional) To receive notifications in Jamf Pro for this deployment, select the Log event notifications for this app checkbox.
To allow Jamf Pro to deploy an additional configuration profile to disable the developer built-in auto-update, select the Install supporting configuration profiles checkbox.
When selected, and if the App Installer package recommends disabling the built-in auto-update, the configuration profile containing these settings can be viewed on an end user's computer in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Profiles (macOS 13 or later) or System Preferences > Profiles (macOS 12 or earlier). The profile is labeled App Installers - APP_NAME.
Important:
Before enabling this option in your environment, there are many factors to consider, including if you have deployed configuration profiles to manage App Installers settings in Jamf Pro 10.43.0 or earlier. For more information, see the Configuration Profiles for Additional App Installers Settings article.
(Optional) Toggle the Deploy switch off if you aren't ready to distribute the software title.
If you selected Make available in Self Service as the initial distribution method, click the Self Service tab to configure how the software title is displayed in Self Service.
You cannot change the icon displayed for the software title in Self Service.
Note:
The Self Service tab is displayed regardless of the selected distribution method. Additionally, to add the software title to the Compliance category, your Jamf Pro instance must be integrated with Microsoft Intune.
(Optional) Click the End user experience tab to customize the end user experience when a software title has an available update and it is open on a user's computer.
Note:
Customizing the settings on this tab will override any global settings configured in Settings > Computer management > App Installers.
When customized, the configuration profile containing these settings can be viewed on an end user's computer in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Profiles (macOS 13 or later) or System Preferences > Profiles (macOS 12 or earlier). The profile is labeled App Installers - Custom values for APP_NAME.
Click Save .
Click the Deployment status tab to monitor the App Installer deployment.
The software title is distributed to target computers in the chosen smart group.
Keep the following in mind after using App Installers to distribute a software title:
If the target computer is removed from the scoped smart group, the software title remains on the computer but no longer receives updates.
If a new target computer is added to the scoped smart group, the deployment process starts.
If an end user removes the software title from the target computer the software title remains uninstalled until one of the following occurs:
The App Installer deployment is toggled off and back on.
A new version of the software title is added to the Jamf App Catalog.
The target computer is removed from the scoped smart group and then re-added to the smart group.
If you selected the Install supporting configuration profiles checkbox or customized notifications on the End user experience tab, you can view the status of the management commands for the installation or removal of the configuration profiles by navigating to the Management History category in the History tab of the computer inventory information. Example management commands include:
Install Configuration Profile App Installers - Custom values for Google Chrome
Install Configuration Profile App Installers - Google Chrome