Pushing Android OS Updates

[Andrei_Gogiu]

Hi everyone,

We manage 4500+ Android devices in our organization. Controlling Android OS updates is not supported at the time being and there is almost no information online on the subject.

Just wondering if anyone knows if this feature is work in progress. Any other information on the matter would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[beks88]

As far as I know, Google is planning with Android 11 to provide an standardized API for manufacturers, so EMMs can use this command to push Updates on all Android devices.

Samsung for example is currently solving this on their own way with E-FOTA (which needs seperate licenses)

With SM you could try to force the user to update by providing compliance policies. And if a device isn't compliant, you can delete profiles until it's compliant again.

[VictorM]

Hey, @Andrei_Gogiu 

Systems Manager does not currently support managing Android OS updates outside of kiosk mode devices.

We do have plans to continue building out our Android EMM features to better support current and future OS update settings.

[Andrei_Gogiu]

Hello again,

It's been a while and I just wanted to follow up on this and see if there's been any evolution. So, does anyone know if there are plans to include this feature anytime soon?

Thanks,

Andrei 

[CoreySkiba]

Making a reply so that I may follow this topic as well. I created a forum account specifically so I could ask this.

[VictorM]

Hey @Andrei_Gogiu  and @CoreySkiba!

This continues to be on our roadmap, however we have nothing new to announce at the moment.

If possible, would you mind reaching out to me via PM so that we can discuss your use case for controlling Android OS updates and what kinds of specific controls you are looking for?

Cheers!

[MemnochTheRed]

It is 09/19/22, which is 1 year and 7 months from the last time this topic was mentioned. Can the MDM push requests to install Android Updates?

[MemnochTheRed]

Just an FYI:

Dear Joshua,

Thank you for contacting Cisco Meraki technical support!

This is currently not a capability of the Meraki MDM due to Android not being a standardized operating system for all devices that run android. For example, just about every major vendor has their own "flavor" of Android that they custom-make and push to devices when they deem it ready.

[ISNWAdmin]

Thanks for passing that info along. Seems par-for-the-course with Meraki, though - making weird excuses on why something isn't possible, while other competing software and systems seem to manage just fine (e.g. ManageEngine MDM has the ability to enforce and manage Android OS updates). 

Not to mention the actual documentation from Android on how to create a policy for Organization Owned and Work Profile devices on system updates for EMMs - Manage system updates  |  Android Developers.

Having the ability to manage the update profiles would at least give compliance assurance to device owners. 

Per Android's dev documentation for EMMs:

Update policies

A device owner can control when updates are installed by setting a local system update policy for a device. The system update policy can be one of three types:

Automatic

Installs system updates as soon as they become available (without user interaction). Setting this policy type immediately installs any pending updates that might be postponed or waiting for a maintenance window.

Windowed

Installs system updates during a daily maintenance window (without user interaction). Set the start and end of the daily maintenance window, as minutes of the day, when creating a new windowed policy.

Postponed

Postpones the installation of system updates for 30 days. After the 30-day period has ended, the system prompts the device user to install the update.

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[PaulF]

Hi

I've highlighted this to the engineering team, and that splitting the ability to manage OS updates from Kiosk Mode would help.

Paul