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While consumers eagerly anticipate Apple’s latest innovations each September, IT professionals know there’s more to the story. Beyond the user-facing delights, Apple consistently delivers powerful updates specifically designed to streamline enterprise IT and elevate security.
This year is no exception. Apple’s latest enterprise features include:
- Declarative Device Management (DDM)
- DDM for App Management
- New MDM migration
- Platform SSO
Let’s break down the new enterprise features, focusing on how they empower IT admins to manage their Apple fleets with greater control, efficiency, and security.
DDM: The New Standard for Device Management
The biggest news is undoubtedly the maturation of Apple’s Declarative Device Management (DDM). This is Apple’s strategic shift in how devices are to be managed. It’s moving away from the traditional, reactive, command-based MDM model.
What it means for you:
- Proactive, policy-driven management: DDM shifts control to the device itself. Devices will now proactively manage their state based on declared policies. This means faster, more reliable enforcement.
- Granular control & real-time status: Get unprecedented control over device configurations. Devices report their status in real time, giving you immediate visibility into compliance.
- Autonomous updates: Devices will autonomously apply updates when conditions are met, without constant server polling. It makes device management more efficient and less resource-intensive for your IT team.
DDM for App Management
Building on the foundation of DDM, Apple is extending its capabilities directly into App Management, offering IT admins unparalleled control over software deployments.
What it means for you:
- Define app behavior: Admins can now define installation and update behavior on a per-app basis. Need to enforce automatic updates for security-critical apps? Pin a productivity tool to a specific version for compatibility? DDM enables this precision.
- Streamline software deployment: DDM now simplifies the deployment of App Store apps, Custom Apps, and even standalone .pkg files, all through a unified, policy-driven approach. This significantly streamlines your software distribution workflows.
New MDM Migration
For organizations looking to consolidate or modernize their MDM solutions, the process has often been daunting. Apple is addressing this head-on with new support for a guided MDM migration process that preserves user data.
What it means for you:
- Reduced friction: This significantly reduces friction for enterprise-wide MDM consolidation and modernization efforts. No more dreading a migration that could disrupt your entire workforce.
- Data preservation: The ability to preserve user data throughout the migration is a game-changer, ensuring continuity and minimizing user impact. This makes moving to a more capable, modern MDM (like JumpCloud) a much smoother journey.
Platform SSO
Apple continues to focus on robust, hardware-backed identity and a Zero Trust framework with enhancements to Platform SSO (single sign-on).
What it means for you:
- Integrated Setup Assistant: Platform SSO registration is now seamlessly integrated into the Setup Assistant. This means that for zero-touch deployments or one-to-one deployments, users can register for Platform SSO as part of their initial device setup experience.
- Seamless user experience: This dramatically streamlines the end-user experience, making device onboarding faster and more intuitive, while immediately linking the user’s identity to the device’s secure enclave.
- Zero Trust foundation: This integration further solidifies Apple’s commitment to building identity directly into the hardware, strengthening your Zero Trust security posture from the moment a device is unboxed.
These new enterprise features from Apple represent a significant leap forward in device management, security, and user experience. For IT admins, they offer a powerful toolkit to maintain control, optimize resources, and secure their Apple fleets more effectively than ever before.
The Ever-Present Threat: Apple Zero-Days
Compounding these challenges is the speed at which new vulnerabilities can emerge.
For high-profile operating systems like macOS and iOS/iPadOS, the discovery of a “zero-day” (a vulnerability unknown to the vendor and actively exploited) means that IT admins are in a constant race against time. The window to patch and protect devices once a fix is released is incredibly narrow.
This is where a robust and proactive security strategy, supported by your IT management platform, becomes nonnegotiable.
JumpCloud’s Commitment to Apple Security
At JumpCloud, we understand these pressures. Our dedicated security and engineering teams are constantly monitoring Apple’s advisories and the broader threat landscape. Our commitment includes:
- Rapid patch management development: Our goal is day-one or near day-one support for critical Apple OS updates and security patches. When Apple releases a fix, our teams work around the clock to ensure our platform can deploy it quickly.
- Extensive testing: We rigorously test new features and patch mechanisms across current and previous OS versions to ensure broad compatibility and prevent regressions.
- Leveraging Apple’s frameworks: We build our management and security features directly on Apple’s native management frameworks, ensuring maximum compatibility and reliable deployment.
We strive to empower our customers to respond to zero-days with speed and confidence, turning a potential crisis into a manageable security update.
Your Smooth Transition Guide
Preparing your organization for Apple’s fall updates doesn’t have to be a nightmare. By leveraging JumpCloud’s Apple MDM solution, communicating proactively with your users, and having a clear testing and deployment strategy, you can turn these exciting releases into an opportunity for enhanced productivity and stronger security.
Don’t let the next wave of Apple releases catch you off guard. Watch our webinar: Apple’s macOS and iOS/iPadOS 26 Updates: What IT and Security Teams Need to Know to learn about the key changes and managing new Apple’s features with JumpCloud.
Looking for an Apple MDM solution? Experience the benefits of JumpCloud’s unified platform firsthand. Sign up for a free trial or speak with a JumpCloud representative to discuss your MDM/UEM needs.
