Relution Signet Customer Hub

App Compliance

Installing apps from Apps and Books (VPP in the portal) on Apple TV devices is particularly straightforward thanks to Relution’s App compliance policy. This configuration enables simple and central distribution of applications to a large number of devices.

Starting the distribution only requires:

  • An Apple School or Apple Business account.
  • The integration of the organization’s own Apps and Books token → in Relution.
  • Acquired licenses for the desired apps from Apple School Manager (ASM) or Apple Business Manager (ABM).

tvOS devices in Relution →

A misconfiguration can lead to data loss, e.g. if apps are blocked or removed from the device as a result. Admins, customers and the people using the devices are responsible for backing up their own data from individual apps or from the devices.

Configuring App Compliance

The distribution of apps to Apple TV devices (analogous to iOS devices) is carried out via the App compliance policy configuration. It is selected under Devices → Policies in a tvOS policy via Add Configuration and created with Add details.

Selecting the App compliance configuration in a tvOS policy

Similar to iOS devices, app availability is controlled under List type in the General section: either as a blocklist (Blocklist — The apps below are not allowed, the default for new configurations) or as an allowlist (Allowlist — The apps below are allowed). Only one of the two list types is active per configuration. The apps are entered via Add in the Blocked apps or Allowed apps section below.

Allowlist and blocklist are only applied to supervised devices.

Allowlist (Permitted Apps)

The allowlist explicitly defines which apps are permitted to be available on the devices. Two additional options are available:

  • Put all auto-deployed apps on the allowlist: Apps distributed to the devices’ users via auto deployments are automatically added to the allowlist.
  • Allow Local Secret Prompts (e.g., iCloud, Google login): The system dialog for local secret prompts is added to the allowlist so that such prompts are not blocked.

App compliance configuration with an allowlist and the Allowed apps section

Blocklist (Blocked Apps)

The blocklist is used to hide or block specific apps on tvOS devices.

App compliance configuration with a blocklist and the Blocked apps section

Required Apps

In the Required apps section, the applications that must be mandatorily installed on the devices are specified. Add offers the following sources (the same apply to the allowlist and blocklist):

  • Relution App Store app: Selection of apps for the tvOS and iOS platforms from the Relution App Store. For required apps, native (self-uploaded) apps are offered, as well as public apps for which the organization holds Apps and Books licenses. There is no direct search in the public Apple App Store for tvOS.
  • Manually add app: Entry of an app by Name and Internal name (bundle ID).

Selecting the source in the Select an app dialog: Relution App Store app or Manually add app
Selecting public apps with Apps and Books licenses from the Relution App Store in the Select an app dialog

If a required app is not installed on the device, the device is considered noncompliant. The app is only actively installed if the checkbox in the Auto install column is selected; it is selected by default when an app is added. The VPP licenses and Available VPP licenses columns show the existing and the remaining free licenses per app.

Two toggles are available above the list:

  • Uninstall auto-installed required apps if no longer required: If an auto-installed required app is removed from the configuration, or the configuration is removed from the device, the app is uninstalled. The toggle is off for new configurations.
  • Always put these required apps on the allow list: If this or another policy configures an allowlist for the device, the required apps are added to it.

When saving, the lists are checked for conflicts: a required app must not be on the blocklist. If the second toggle is off for an allowlist, all required apps must also be entered on the allowlist.

iOS apps can also be used on tvOS, as long as they are suitable for tvOS. Non-compatible apps will be installed on the device, but will disappear after the installation process and will not be available.

Public apps without Apps and Books licenses as well as web links (browsers) cannot be installed on tvOS devices.

Once the configuration is complete, it can be saved, published, and assigned to the corresponding devices.

Publishing the tvOS policy with the App compliance configuration

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