Forum Discussion

datwelk's avatar
datwelk
Copper Contributor
Apr 21, 2023

VPP app update on iOS results in app update popup loop

Our customers deploy our Volume Purchase Program (VPP) iOS app that is distributed through Apple Business Manager on iPads managed by Microsoft Endpoint Manager (Intune).

 

When we publish an update of our app and a managed device picks up the availability of the update, the iPad will show an alert with the following format:

 

"<OrganizationName> is about to update the application <ApplicationName>"

 

The user is presented with two options in the alert: Cancel or Update.

 

For many iPads, it does not matter which of the two options the user selects, the popup will immediately reappear. It differs from iPad to iPad how long this reappearance sequence lasts for, but we have seen cases where the user has to dismiss the alert 40 times. 

 

This is clearly a bug either in iOS or in Microsoft Intune. We have filed ongoing cases with Apple months ago, but it remains very silent from their side. Even though this bug renders the iPads unusable the moment an app is updated. We have also supplied extensive logging to them to no avail.

 

Based on further investigation from our side, it seems that this issue only occurs on devices that are managed by Intune, not by Jamf or AirWatch.

 

Has anyone else seen this issue? How can we get this investigated by the right people? I can provide extensive video's and device logs aligned with the video timestamps.

 

Intune
Mobile Device Management (MDM)
  • somesh_pathak's avatar
    somesh_pathak
    Iron Contributor
    Apr 25, 2023

    Hi datwelk.,

     

    For iOS apps, this behaviour is well-known. The user will see this pop-up if the app is being used in the foreground, meaning it is open and the user is using it. The upgrade will be silent, and the user will see a "BLUE" colour dot on the top right corner of the app icon if the app is not being used or has not been started.

     

    This prevents crashes or data loss as the app is being used while it detects the update.

     

    Best Regards,

    Somesh

Resources