Intune Support Tip: Keeping your Company Portal app up-to-date on Android devices

by Scott Muniz | Sep 18, 2020 | Uncategorized

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

The Intune Company Portal app allows you to access corporate data, apps, and resources. It’s important to keep your app up to date with the latest version of Company Portal. We recently had a change in enrollment certificates which required a Company Portal update for some users, and after talking with a few customers who weren’t aware of why and how to keep the company portal updated, we thought it would be good to provide this support tip.

Here are a few reasons to keep your Company Portal updated:

• Prevent security risks that can occur on older OS versions
• Certificate expirations which could prevent access
• New features, bug fixes, or changes to the UI

How to keep your device updated

When using Android devices, it is up to you as a user to keep the app updated. There are two options to keeping your Company Portal updated:

1. Recommended: Turn on Auto-Updates within the Google Play store, this will ensure that you always have the latest version on your device.
2. Ensure your notifications are turned on for Google Play Store to let you know when your app needs to be updated. (Don’t delay after seeing the notification or you might forget!)

Note: You won’t see a prompt within the Company Portal app that an update is needed.

How to update automatically

If you choose to turn on auto-updates follow these steps:

1. Open Google Play store and select the Menu icon
2. Select Settings
3. Select Auto-update apps and choose one of the following:
   • Over any network. Data charges may apply
   • Over Wi-Fi only

Fig 1. Google Play Store Fig 2. Google Play Store Settings

Fig 3. Auto-update apps Fig 4. Auto-update apps options

If you choose to auto-update over Wi-Fi to save on possible data charges, see below on how to connect to Wi-Fi automatically.

How to update manually

If you decide to update manually by receiving Google Play notifications do the following:

1. Open Google Play store and select the Menu icon
2. Select My apps & games
3. Select the Intune Company Portal app to update (or select Update All)
   1. If prompted, review App Permissions, then select Accept to proceed with the app update

Google Play Store – Manually update apps

Set up your Wi-Fi to connect automatically

If your settings for updates are limited to Wi-Fi connections to prevent possible data usage, it’s helpful to set up your device to connect to Wi-Fi networks automatically:

1. Open your device’s Settings menu

2. Select Network & Internet

3. Select Wi-Fi

4. Select Wi-Fi preferences

5. Turn on Connect to open networks

Android Settings Android – Network & internet settings

Android – Wi-Fi settings Android – Wi-Fi preferences

Administrative options for updating apps

Device restrictions

As an IT admin, you can also ensure your user has the latest Company Portal version by setting up device restrictions for users enrolled with fully managed, dedicated, and corporate-owned devices by following these steps:

1. Navigate to Devices > Android > Configuration policy
2. Click Create Profile

   1. Platform: Android Enterprise

   2. Profile: Select Device restrictions under Fully Managed, Dedicated, and Corporate-Owned Work Profile
      <<Screenshot>>

   3. Open Applications within the accordion
   4. Set App auto-updates: Devices check for app updates daily. Choose when automatic updates are installed:

      1. Not configured: Intune doesn’t change or update this setting.

      2. User choice: The OS might default to this option. Users can set their preferences in the managed Google Play app.

      3. Never: Updates are never installed. This option isn’t recommended.

      4. Wi-Fi only: Updates are installed only when the device is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

      5. Always: Updates are installed when they’re available.

Android Enterprise – Device restriction profile

For more information on Device restrictions for Android Enterprise see this documentation. App auto-updates aren’t available for devices enrolled with Android device administrator or Android work profile.

Configure Conditional Launch

Another option as an IT admin is to configure a minimum Company Portal version within conditional launch settings to prevent users from accessing company resources if they need to update Company Portal. This can be configured by doing the following:

1. Navigate to Apps > App protection policy
2. Click Create policy and choose Android
3. Under Conditional Launch > Device conditions, select Min Company Portal version
   
   Android Enterprise – Device restriction profile settings
4. Once selected, insert a minimum Company Portal version to Value
5. Choose an action:

   1. Block access: Prevent users from accessing company resources until Company Portal is updated.

   2. Wipe data: The user account that is associated with the application is wiped from the device.

   3. Warn: This will let users know that they need to update the Company Portal.

Note: If you choose Block access, forcing an update could lead to unexpected data charges at the time of the update. Learn more about Android app protection policy settings in Microsoft Intune.

We hope this support tip is useful for your users. For more on updating the Company Portal on Android devices, see this documentation:

• Help end users understand Company Portal app messages
• Enroll your Android device
• Enroll your Android Work Profile device
• Configuring and troubleshooting Android enterprise devices in Microsoft Intune
• Managing Android devices where Google Mobile Services are not available

Let us know if you have any additional questions on this by replying back to this post or tagging @IntuneSuppTeam out on Twitter!

[Guest Blog] My Journey to Ethical AI

by Scott Muniz | Sep 18, 2020 | Uncategorized

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

This article by Humans of IT Student Ambassador Olivia Asemota, a Computer Science undergrad student from Xavier University of Louisiana is part of our Student Ambassador Spotlight series in the lead-up to Microsoft Ignite. Olivia shares about her passion for computer science and ethics, and her future aspirations to blend the two together in her future career. 

My journey into the world of computer science and technology began quite differently from other people. For me, it began when I thought I broke the internet. I remember playing on my father’s computer, not really knowing what I was doing, but, nevertheless, pressing as many buttons as I could. I somehow got into the developer tools of the browser and deleted everything on the screen. I immediately froze – did I just break the browser, or worse, the entire Internet? My initial instinct was to get up, run, and never face my dad again, but a quick hit of the refresh button and everything was back to normal.

Though daunting, this slightly traumatic experience is what jumpstarted my fascination with technology. I didn’t know what I did, but curiosity got the best of me, and I began trying to replicate my actions in the days following. Those experiments introduced me to the world of programming and I immediately knew that I had to learn more. From there, I began to scour the internet for online courses so I could better understand what I stumbled upon. I found lessons in Python, Java, HTML, and JavaScript, and I quickly fell in love with the creativity of programming. I grew up thinking that I had to be an artist or actor in order to be creative, but coding taught me that this was not the case. I could write code to do whatever I set my young, imaginative, mind to. It was liberating and exciting. 

Once I got to college, I knew Computer Science would be my major. I already had dreams of working at top tech companies or starting my own business. I knew I wanted to use the skills and knowledge I gained to help other people in the best way I could. However, during that first year in college, I discovered a new passion that I believe will tie closely with my software engineering endeavors. I discovered a deep love for philosophy and ethics.

I have always been aware of the good and bad sides of technology. I love how it has shaped our world and expanded our ability to connect with people who have similar interests and beliefs as we do. We have the ability to provide aid to people on the other side of the world whether it’s through monetary or vocal support. But I think there are certain ethical standards that we need to hold ourselves to, especially as it applies to AI and how it affects the lives of people around the world. Blending tech and philosophy was truly eye-opening for me.

My goal in the next 10 years of my life is to become a research scientist in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. I want to help build ethical technology that benefits everyone. I believe this starts with learning about different ethical theories and how they can be applied to AI and ML. There are so many positive possibilities that these technological advancements can give us, and I’m excited to see how it continues to shape our world for the better. This is where my two passions meet. I want to help create better systems for more people, and I think it’s not far out of my reach. I truly believe to begin solving these problems, we need to understand how different aspects of our society affect the way we think and thus, the way we create. Our tools and platforms are a reflection of our thoughts and feelings and maybe this is where we should begin as we move forward.

I don’t have all of the answers. I believe this problem challenges us to reevaluate our connection with our environment and other people. But I do not think hope is lost. We just need to be bold and to take the right risks, and I’m optimistic that our society and way of living can be much better than ever before.

#HumansofIT

#StudentAmbassadors