iOS 11.3 causing problems with device management, fix for Jamf Pro coming

Posted:
in iOS
Organizations trying to use Jamf Pro 10.3 to upgrade devices to iOS 11.3 are running into a glitch putting Apple products in a "failed loop," no longer responding to any further commands, Jamf has acknowledged.




"Devices upgraded to iOS 11.3 are returning a new response that does not match Apple's documented protocol," the company said in a forum post. In response it's working on a maintenance update for Jamf Pro, which should properly react to 11.3. Until then the company is recommending people avoid using the MDM Software Update feature.

"Any devices that did go through this MDM Software Update workflow should have their MDM communication restored after upgrading to this maintenance release of Jamf Pro 10.3," the company assured clients. The patch should be ready "in the coming days" for both cloud and on-premsises customers.

Devices updated manually to iOS 11.3 are still responding normally to JAMF commands.

Jamf's software lets people update and manage Apple products en masse, instead of individually tweaking each one. It was first developed for the University of Wisconsin.

Today however the software is used by a wide number of organizations, making any bugs a problem not just for those parties but Apple, since it could interfere with adoption of iOS updates or even nudge some entities towards other platforms.

iOS 11.3 was released on March 29, primarily introducing new iPhone battery monitoring features. It also brought support for apps built on ARKit 1.5, new animoji characters, and a Health Records feature, letting users see their medical histories through the iOS Health app.

People who have already tried to use Jamf Pro to update iOS devices and need an immediate solution may have to manually wipe hardware and set it up fresh if they need MDM commands before a fix is rolled out.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    It also stopped Duet, the app that lets you use your iPad as a separate screen for your Macbook, from working, which is very frustrating.

    Not that I understand much about these things anyway, but why . . .
    - does an upgrade that is mainly about battery life and animojis affect these other apps?
    - didn't this come out in the beta testing?


  • Reply 2 of 9
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,861administrator
    fred1 said:
    It also stopped Duet, the app that lets you use your iPad as a separate screen for your Macbook, from working, which is very frustrating.

    Not that I understand much about these things anyway, but why . . .
    - does an upgrade that is mainly about battery life and animojis affect these other apps?
    - didn't this come out in the beta testing?


    Duet and the others like it relied on undocumented and unsupported workarounds. It was going to break sooner or later. It was macOS that had a ton of work on the graphics routines that broke it, not the iOS shift.
    edited April 2018 jbdragondysamoriaracerhomie3StrangeDays
  • Reply 3 of 9
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    fred1 said:
    It also stopped Duet, the app that lets you use your iPad as a separate screen for your Macbook, from working, which is very frustrating.

    Not that I understand much about these things anyway, but why . . .
    - does an upgrade that is mainly about battery life and animojis affect these other apps?
    - didn't this come out in the beta testing?


    Duet and the others like it relied on undocumented and unsupported workarounds. It was going to break sooner or later. It was macOS that had a ton of work on the graphics routines that broke it, not the iOS shift.
    Oops! You're right. It's MacOS 10.13.4 that it has problems with.  
  • Reply 4 of 9
    Does this affect other MDM providers?

  • Reply 5 of 9
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,861administrator
    Does this affect other MDM providers?

    Don't know yet. We're asking. It probably does.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    JanNLJanNL Posts: 327member
    Does this affect other MDM providers?

    Don't know yet. We're asking. It probably does.
    Good is advising nòt to install iOS 11.3. Didn’t give a reason this morning...
  • Reply 7 of 9
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,861administrator
    JanNL said:
    Does this affect other MDM providers?

    Don't know yet. We're asking. It probably does.
    Good is advising nòt to install iOS 11.3. Didn’t give a reason this morning...
    No, doing as you suggest is a bad idea from a security perspective. Also from the article, manually updated iOS 11.3 devices still respond to MDM commands fine.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,464member
    Does this affect other MDM providers?

    It's affecting Blackberry Work, we were instructed not to upgrade till further notice.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    ktappektappe Posts: 824member
    fred1 said:
    didn't this come out in the beta testing?


    Because the way you install Betas is not the same as this. Manual installs don't produce the bug, and Betas have to be manually installed. The problem, as the article states, is the return code generated by an iOS device once it has self-updated after having been instructed to by the MDM. Until Betas can be installed via this push instruction, there's no way to test for this failure in Beta. (hint, hint, Apple: Beta programs need to test *everything*, so you need to start allowing institutions to install Betas via MDM.)
Sign In or Register to comment.