First published on TechNet on Aug 07, 2018
Google just announced release of Android P, or Android 9 Pie. Our Intune App Protection Policy (APP and also known as mobile app management or MAM) team and our Android Mobile Device Management (MDM) team have been testing each preview and wanted to keep you posted on what we’ve been finding. So far, through our testing with each beta release, all existing Intune MDM and Intune APP scenarios are compatible with this latest version of Android.
There's are a few things you’ll want to know:
- If you are an app developer who has taken a previous version of the Intune SDK for Android , you must adopt the recently published Intune APP SDK in order to ensure that Intune functionality within your app continues to work smoothly on Android P. In order to both facilitate Android P support and to provide a smoother integration experience, this new SDK provides a required build plugin which performs most SDK replacements, such as inheriting from MAMActivity instead of Activity , automatically as a build step. Existing integrated code will not need to be rewritten. More details are provided in the documentation with the SDK release.
- If you are an app developer/IT admin that has taken a previous version of the Intune App Wrapping Tool, the Intune product team will be releasing an update in calendar year Q3 that all LOB apps must use in order to work with Android P.
- Encourage your end users to update to Intune's latest version of the Company Portal, Intune Managed Browser, and other APP-supported apps. The latest version is required to work with Android P.
- App icon branding: if you are using the old badging style for Intune, we recommend you use the briefcase icon. The Intune app partner web page will reflect these changes from your new icon. Our branding details are in this GitHub repository .
For customers using Intune MDM:
- Company Access Setup may not complete successfully on a device running Android P Preview builds. We are addressing this issue in the August production update of the Intune web portal.
- There's a slight branding change around app icon badging with Work Profiles in Android P. The Company Portal for Android uses this icon at the end of the workflow for enrolling with a Work Profile. Newer updates of the Company Portal will now show Google’s new design with a blue briefcase. There is no change in behavior or functionality. New icon (left), old icon (right).
As with other major platform updates, check mobile app compatibility with your app providers to confirm your users' apps work with Android P. You’ll see a “What’s New for the app” in the Play Store or in-app details on an application’s website. Some apps provide Day 0 support, while others update over time. Ensure your users' managed apps that are deployed through Intune have been updated to a version that supports Android P. If you run into anything else in your testing, do let us know!