As we have begun to deploy apps for iPads on a wider scale across the environment, I’m struggling how what format to do so in. Do we use the original format of using App Store codes, or do we fully and completely switch to Managed Apps? I’m not sure which is the correct answer.
When using app codes, the rub there is that when a code is assigned to a person, the license for that app becomes the permanently assigned to the AppleID that redeemed the code. In contrast, when using the Managed Distribution method the license for an app is temporarily assigned to the user’s AppleID, and can be taken back using your Enterprise Mobility Management system. So, on the surface, for an enterprise environment the latter method seems like a no-brainer. But, there’s one small hitch.
iOS apps are sandboxed. Meaning that each app essentially exists on an island unto itself, with limited to no interaction with other apps or the device’s underlying system. The problem is that by doing so not only is the app isolated, but all of the data associated with that app is marooned with it. So, for example, if I markup a PDF file with iAnnotate, that PDF remains part of and associated with the iAnnotate app. If iAnnotate is a Managed App and I revoke the license, not only is the app itself pulled, but any data saved with that app gets pulled as well.
The ramifications of this is that at some point a student, staff, or faculty member is going to lose some of their saved files. When the license is pulled and recovered by the EMM system it will take the user’s data with it, and I’m not sure there is any way to get it back. The easy “not-my-fault!” answer is to tell everyone to make sure everything is saved to a cloud storage service such as Box, but expecting 100% compliance with that is foolish. The administration might let it slide when random Suzy Student graduates and loses her annotated PDFs, but when Dr. Administrator loses a vital planning document because she’s transferring to another college it will become a much bigger deal.
So, I’m torn. On the one hand I would like users–students especially–to be able to take their work with them when they leave, but ensuring that means giving them a permanent license to every app we buy. I don’t want to take any of their work away from them when a license is pulled from their iPad.
On the other hand I want to save money, and offer a wider variety of apps to users. Doing that however, requires fully using the Managed Distribution method to make every dollar stretch as far as we can, and not constantly purchasing more and more copies of apps we regularly use. I cannot have any confidence that students will handle their data properly, however, and take the extra step–and it is an extra step with iOS–to move everything to and from the cloud when working with their files.
I’m unsure which way to lean, but I know what way the budget is going to push me.