Supported Enterprise Mobility Management Providers

Overview

Starting with RealWear’s Release 11, RealWear supports Device Owner Fully Managed leveraging Android Enterprise Management APIs. You can now easily enroll devices with most EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) systems. For customers using an EMM that does not support Device Owner management of RealWear devices, Device Administrator is still available and supported.

This support can be categorized into four use cases:

Full Device Owner Support

This includes Full Device Owner support that has been tested with EMMs that have implemented Android Enterprise support for AOSP (Android Open Source Project) devices within both their console and their own device policy controller.

Currently this includes:

  • VMware’s WorkspaceOne (Formerly Airwatch)
  • SOTI MobiControl
  • Blackberry UEM

Android Enterprise Support

This includes EMMs that have implemented Android Enterprise and support AOSP devices within both their console and their device policy controller. While untested, these should function.

Most EMM vendors have built and maintained their own DPC (Device Policy Controller) leveraging the Google Play enterprise mobility management APIs enabling access to the Google ecosystem and support for Android Enterprise in the vendors own client.

If you are using another EMM solution that is Android Enterprise certified by Google, we welcome the opportunity to work together to test interoperability. Contact your dedicated RealWear contact or email Support@RealWear.com.

Android Management API

This includes EMM providers who have taken the approach to follow Google’s best practices for Android Enterprise by leveraging Google’s Android Management API implementation and a Google- provided device policy controller in their architecture. This includes Microsoft Intune.

EMM solutions that have taken this approach rely on Google Mobile Services (GMS) for Android Enterprise.

For a device to be GMS certified, the device must first comply with Google’s Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD).

RealWear (and other Android head-worn wearables) are an innovative new class of edge devices which are on the leading edge of mobile computing. There is no category in Google’s Android CDD for head-worn wearable computers. Android Enterprise for RealWear devices with Microsoft Intune is unavailable by Google and not currently possible.

RealWear is motivated to establish an industry category or profile for GMS compliance for head-worn devices for hands-free use cases. While RealWear is beginning dialog with Google on this subject, nothing can yet be announced, and Google is in full control of its platform. In the short term, Device Administrator is supported by EMM’s that fall into this scenario.

Device Administrator

This includes EMM providers that currently only support Device Administrator management of RealWear devices.

RealWear, with customer support, makes a best effort to represent the requirements and business case for Device Owner management of RealWear devices to EMM providers.

Ultimately, each EMM provider is in control of their own product roadmap and makes the decision independently on whether to support Device Owner management of RealWear devices.

Customers are strongly encouraged to share their requirements for Device Owner directly with their EMM provider of choice and their dedicated RealWear contacts.

In the absence of an available Device Owner solution, Device Administrator is still supported.

Summary

Refer to the chart below for a quick summary of EMM providers RealWear supports:

EMM ProviderDevice OwnerDevice Owner has not been tested or Device Admin is available
42 GearsNoYes
Blackberry UEMYesYes
CitrixNoYes
IBM MaaS 360NoYes
Microsoft IntuneNoYes
MobileIronNoYes
SOTIYesYes
VMwareYesYes

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What if I am using Device Administrator (often called “Device Admin”), to manage my RealWear devices? Isn’t Device Admin deprecated in Android 10 which is incorporated into RealWear’s Release 12?

Google has announced that some device admin policies are deprecated in Android 10 and recommends that all customers work with their enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution provider of choice to migrate to Device Owner management. Given device owner management of RealWear devices is not currently supported by EMM providers, we recommend the below actions:

For customers with an available Device Owner solution: We recommend migrating all RealWear devices to Device Owner management as part of your Release 12 and Android 10 upgrade plan. Existing Device Owner support for management of RealWear devices should not change with Android 10.

For customers using Foresight to manage their RealWear devices: Of the four Google management APIs deprecated in Android 10, only PIN complexity control is implemented in Foresight. This functionality has been reimplemented for Foresight console management of Android 10 devices . This means that Foresight customers can continue to control the complexity of their RealWear device PINs without any change in functionality with Android 10

For customers using a third-party EMM provider that does not support device owner management of RealWear devices: Contact your EMM provider to formally request Device Owner management of RealWear devices. Request a plan on how to effectively manage your RealWear devices with Device Admin until Device Owner is available.

If you would like to use RealWear Foresight to manage your PIN complexity, contact your Foresight IT admin or sign up for Foresight here.

Customers may also consider whether it makes sense to use an EMM that does support Device Owner to manage their RealWear devices.

If for whatever reason customers feel they need additional time to execute their upgrade plans, they can exercise all options outlined in RealWear’s Firmware Update and Support policy. Regardless of the management situation, RealWear recommends working closely with your company’s EMM IT administrator, your EMM solution provider and your dedicated RealWear contacts on your RealWear device management plan moving forward.

 

Q: Is Microsoft Intune compatible with RealWear devices?

While Microsoft does not support Device Owner management of RealWear devices, Device Administrator management is supported for customers who use Microsoft Intune. Details can be found here in Microsoft’s support documentation. RealWear’s Solutions Engineering team has a close technical relationship with Microsoft to help identify a solution implementation that works for your particular enterprise. Reach out to your dedicated Microsoft account team for more information.

Enrollment

In most cases, enrollment is simple:

  1. Generate a Device Owner QR code from your EMM system, vendor provided staging application, or one that’s custom generated
  2. Scan the QR code on a brand new or factory reset HMT device
  3. Follow the enrollment prompts

For specific instructions or more detailed information please contact your EMM admin or provider, or review the enrollment guides below. RealWear has tested and worked with many of the most common EMM providers. The following providers are certified by RealWear to work with the HMT:

Devices can be enrolled in one of two styles of management – Device Owner (Modern Android Enterprise Management) or Device Administrator (Legacy management). RealWear recommends Device Owner based management where supported, as it allows for greater control and enables more enterprise features for the administrator(s) and user(s), We also support Device Administrator based management where required and supported within your enterprise environment.

To use either device management style the HMT devices must be running at least Release 10.5 (Device Admin only), and it is recommended to be running at least Release 11.x. (Android Enterprise or Device Admin). For more information on Release 11.x, please visit the Release 11 Support Page.

SOTI MobiControl

Note: VMware has announced upcoming changes to Android management using device administrator.

VMware Workspace ONE (AirWatch)

Other Enrollment Guides

The adoption of Android Enterprise Standards means that other EMM providers are also supported to a lesser extent – at this time in Device Admin mode only. As support for these providers expands we will make additional guides available. Device Admin based management requires the HMT to be running at least Release 10.5.x.