You can use managed software updates to update the OS of mobile devices belonging to smart or static group membership lists, eliminating the need for inventory searches and reducing the number of screens required for deploying OS updates.
Requirements
Target devices with iOS 14 or later, iPadOS 14 or later, or tvOS 14 or later, supervised or enrolled via a PreStage enrollment in Jamf Pro
Note:
Devices in Single App Mode may not receive update commands. Consider deploying any iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS updates before placing a device in Single App Mode. Devices already in Single App Mode may need to be taken out of this mode to receive the update.
In Jamf Pro, click Devices in the sidebar.
Click Software Updates in the sidebar.
If you are enabling managed software updates for the first time, click Enable.
Warning:
Enabling managed software updates will initiate a record cleanup, which includes clearing any software update commands that have previously been deployed from Jamf Pro. You can re-deploy these updates with the managed software updates feature. When managed software updates is enabled, mass action software update commands are disabled.
Click Mobile Device Group.
A list of smart device groups and static device groups is displayed.
Select a single group or multiple groups and click Update selected.
Select one of the following for Install Action:
To download the update on devices for users to install themselves, select Download only.
To download and install the update on devices automatically, select Download and install.
To download the update and schedule a specific date and time for the update to install automatically via declarative device management, select Download and schedule to install (Available only for Jamf Standard Cloud-hosted or Jamf Premium Cloud-hosted environments).
Keep the following in mind about using Download and schedule to install:
Download and schedule to install requires mobile devices with iOS 17 or iPadOS 17. tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS are not supported.
Scheduling via declarative device management is not supported in Jamf Premium Cloud Plus.
Both major and minor updates can be scheduled via declarative device management.
A declaration is sent to the device immediately after clicking Apply. When the update completes, the mobile device proactively reports to Jamf Pro.
The update will be enforced at the scheduled time based on the device's local time.
To revoke a declaration, use the Use new feature switch to turn managed software updates off and then back on.
Important:
Due to Apple's MDM framework, the Download, install, and restart and Download, install, and allow deferral commands will only function on computers. These commands are not supported on mobile devices. For mobile devices, Download and install will automatically install the update and restart the device. If you attempt to send a Download, install, and restart or Download, install, and allow deferral command to both a computer group and a mobile device group simultaneously, the mobile device group will instead receive a Download and install command.
Select one of the following for Target Version:
To download the update for the latest iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS version based on each device's eligibility, select Latest version based on device eligibility.
To download the latest major iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS version, select Latest major version.
To download the latest minor iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS version, select Latest minor version.
To download the update for a specific iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS version, select Specific version and select the version from the pop-up menu.
Note:
iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS use semantic versioning.
Click Apply.
The requested update is sent to the selected groups. A message appears indicating if the requested updates are successful. To view the status of a deployed software update plan, click the Management tab in a device inventory record.
If you experience issues with a managed software updates plan, you can troubleshoot using the information found in the Troubleshooting Managed Software Updates technical article.