Hello App Catalog customer! We’re reaching out as we are finalizing an all-new notification system for updates requiring user interaction. This includes a new helper responsible for sending notifications to the macOS Notification Center. To avoid users getting a consent prompt, we’d like to share the technical details to pre-approve the notifications and give you the opportunity to implement these with your Device Management Service before we release this new version later this month.

What is changing?

App Catalog 1.9.0 will ship with a new notification helper Catalog Notifications, responsible for sending deferral reminder notifications.

Catalog Notifications does not replace notifications from Catalog Agent. The primary reason for two notifiers is to be able to send some types of notifications as “Temporary” and some types as “Persistent” for the best possible balanced user experience. This is explained in an updated article: Granting User Notifications. Additionally, User deferrals & interaction provides an early look at how the deferral user experience will look.

What do I need to do?

We recommend reviewing the article Granting User Notifications and update your App Configuration in your Device Management Service.

When will App Catalog 1.9.0 be released?

The current plan is to release this new version later this month. We suggest implementing the changes by Friday April 17th. You may also choose to delay the update: Delaying app updates

What happens if I do nothing?

When App Catalog is updated to 1.9.0, users may receive a notification asking to grant approval for sending notifications. Users may refuse, which means they will not be reminded about upcoming updates requiring a restart of the app.