Release Notes

November 2019

What's New

In our November release, we’re introducing Location Tracking as a new feature in KACE Cloud MDM. Location tracking lets administrators monitor and maintain their device inventory with functions that allow them to:

  • Enable or disable the location tracking feature
  • Collect real-time location information
  • Set range for collecting data location
  • Enable or disable device suspend limits
  • Set compliance parameters
  • Link or display the company’s data privacy policy, and
  • Provide a complete location history of device(s)

Location tracking is available for iOS and Android devices, but is not currently available for Mac devices.

In addition to location tracking capabilities, we've added two feature enhancements. For device list exports, username and email columns have been added to the .csv file. For Android app installations, the default has been reset so that unknown sources will be allowed to install apps on Android devices.

New Feature: Location Tracking

Approve KACE Cloud Connect App (Android)

To successfully deploy the KACE Cloud Connect app to Android end users, an admin will first need to add the app to KACE Cloud MDM. (The KACE Cloud Connect app is automatically imported into the library for iOS.)

  1. Go to Settings in top navigation.
  2. Select Android Settings in left navigation.
  3. Select Managed Google Play.
  4. Under Approve KACE Cloud Connect App, click Add App to Library.

The admin will be taken to the App Libraries page to complete the process.

  1. In the right panel, review/update permissions, then click Approve.
  2. To add the app to the library, click Add.

Add a New Location Rule Set

To create a unique location tracking configuration, an admin will add a new rule set. To deploy that rule set to a specific group of users or devices, an admin can link the rule set to an existing policy. Like Restriction Sets and Passcode Rules, Location Rules can be accessed through the Libraries.

  1. Go to Libraries in top navigation.
  2. Select Location Rules.
  3. Click Add New.
    • Make selections to configure the rule set.
  4. Click Save.

The 'Add New Location Rule Set' Form

Name - Mandatory. The parameters of rule sets can vary greatly, so it’s important to create a distinct and utilitarian name for each.

Description - Optional but recommended. Depending on the size of your organization and the variety of rule sets you create, it is always helpful to create a record of why the rule is being created and listing any special notes that could easily be forgotten.

Detail Level - The detail level allows an admin to decide whether or not to enable data collection. And if enabled, whether to capture data in an on-demand capacity; regulate itself when the device is on low power; set a balanced limit; set the highest possible tracking levels, or to create a custom configuration for tracking detail.

Compliance - The compliance setting lets an admin mark devices as out of compliance if they have not reported a data location for a set amount of time (hours or days) when compliance is checked.

Data Privacy Policy - An admin can choose how to display the company’s data privacy policy to an end user—either through a link to the policy that will open a new window, or by pasting the full text of their policy into the KACE Cloud MDM form to display within the workflow. Note that if a link is used, it must reference a secure https URL.

Add Location Rules to Devices or Groups of Devices

To link rules to users and devices, use Policies.

  1. Go to the Policies section in top navigation.
    • Select an existing policy.
  2. Next to the Applies to section, click Edit.
  3. Select Location Rules in the left-hand panel.
    • Select the rule set you'd like to link to the policy.
  4. Click Link to Policy, then click Push Changes.

Notifying end users - Once changes have been successfully pushed, an admin will need to notify their end users that the KACE Connect app has been deployed to their devices. The end user will then need to open the app on their device and follow the prompts to allow location tracking—and for iOS, notifications.

Feature Enhancements: 

Device List Exports

The device list export now contains the username and email address of the user assigned to the device.

Android App Installations

The default status of the 'Block installation of apps from unknown sources' restriction has been changed to allow installations from unknown sources.

For more information on location tracking and rules, please visit the Location Management section in the Help Center.

Resolved Issues

Issue Description Status
3524 - Username and email should be added as columns on the "Export Devices" csv report. The username and email address that a device is assigned to should be added as columns on the existing device inventory report on the same row as the other device data. Fixed
3271 - Installation from unknown sources disabled by default on Android. Enable (add restriction to allow) app installation from unknown sources on Android devices. Fixed

Known Issues

Issue Description Status
3528 - Unable to create Android Zero Touch Profiles Customer received an error code 400 when attempting to create a Zero Touch profile in the portal. Open
3514 - iOS update command does not display status feedback. iOS command to update OS uses default action that will typically download but not install. Fix to display status feedback. Open
3286 - Apparent mismatch between device compliance and individual entity compliance. Occasionally the policy details for a device may show success even if the entity in question did not successfully install. Open
3108 - Auto-deployed Android restrictions don't appear in the device restrictions list If auto-deployed restrictions for Android are sent to the device, the database may not be properly updated. Open
3070 - System attempts to remove policy configs when unassigned device is assigned to a user During reassignment of a device to a user, removal of previous configurations may fail. If this happens, it may be possible to work around this by first unenrolling the device. Open
Android - Role Management and SSO Configuration If user role assignment is set to Automatic during SSO Configuration, a manual attempt to update an individual user's role via the Users > Edit User path may appear possible, but will be overwritten by the original SSO Configuration. To resolve, the configuration setting can be changed to Manual, which will then enable editing of individual user roles. Open
Android - Restrictions Restrictions that are configured to deploy upon enrollment may not immediately appear in the inventory for impacted devices; however, the restrictions will be enforced on the device. Open
Android - Device Owner Setup When using the Device Owner enrollment flow (afw#kace), the enrollment flow may not complete if the Google Play services on the factory default image of the device are out of date. This a known issue with the Android operating system, caused by the enrollment process timing out before the update of the Play Services on the device can complete. You will know that this situation occurred if you are never asked for your subdomain name during the enrollment process. If you end up back at the device home screen, locate and launch the KACE Cloud MDM agent app on the device and click the 'Enroll Device' button to complete the setup process. Open
Android - Gmail App Android devices require the Gmail app to be installed in order to use the email account configurations. Open
Android - Set and Clear Passcode Commands The set and clear passcode functions are different in Android 7.0 and later. On versions prior to 7.0, an administrator could set or clear the passcode as desired. On Android 7.0 and later, the passcode can only be set on devices that do not already have a passcode set, and passcodes cannot be cleared. The user interface does not currently warn users who are attempting to set or clear a passcode on Android 7.0 and later, but an error message will appear. Note that attempting to clear a passcode will also fail if there is a policy in place that requires use of a passcode to do so. Open
iOS - Factory Reset: Apple iOS iCloud Account Lock When resetting an Apple iOS device back to factory defaults, the device will remain locked to the associated iCloud account. To prevent this from happening, before resetting the device, manually turn off the 'Find my phone' feature on the iPhone. Open
macOS - macOS 10.15 Account Configuration During enrollment, if the ‘Prevent Primary Account Changes’ option is checked and DEP authentication is enabled, the primary account will be created automatically using the DEP authentication token as the account password. While still in the enrollment process, the password cannot be changed. However, once enrollment is complete, the account password can be changed as normal. Open

Additional Resources

Getting Started with KACE Cloud MDM

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