Updated: Google Chrome Update Tool for Android, using Workspace ONE API’s

Recent news from the Google Chrome team reminded me to revisit a previously created tool that allowed enterprises to manage public application updates in their digital workspace. The Chrome team announced that they would temporarily pause upcoming Chrome & Chrome OS releases, and focus exclusively on security updates. It became clear that I needed to update this tool, and tailor it for Google Chrome. 


Widespread use of Chrome, combined with the number of CVE's addressed in each release of Chrome requires every enterprise to have the ability to upgrade their endpoints. The solution needs to be tactical, precise, and meet the business needs. In other words, just allowing devices to auto-update applications on their on, won't cut it. 

Allowing applications to auto-update leaves the business asking; when will the application upgrade? Can we force them to upgrade? Can we force them to upgrade at a specific time?

No caption necessary.

While the tool is helpful, fulfills a need, is able assist with more than just Google Chrome; the script required end-user modification, and could be reworked to work with little modification required. The intention of this updated tool was that anyone could copy the code, and reuse it in their own environment with no modification required. But before we get to what the tool looks like; let's remind ourselves of what the experience is like for the end-user, before they call the help desk.


They see this, but don't worry, Workspace ONE has an API to solve that

 In my spare time I updated the tool. The tool is a bit more tactical, and can be used to specifically update Google Chrome on Android devices. Some of the differences between the original tool, and this tool include;
  • No need to manually lookup Application ID
    • Function in PowerShell to locate application ID
  • Leverages config.ini file to store sensitive environment data
  • Purpose built, artisanal, handcrafted tool, curated for Google Chrome on Android
So, what does the tool look like? See below:
Lines deserving your attention include:
Line 13 requires the config.ini file to be in the correct location (script uses current location\config.ini)
Lines 20,21,22,23 use the UAT values stored in the config.ini file. All you need to do to use the script is setup your config.ini file. If you are using this in production, update the the variable $WS1Env.UATapikey to $WS1Env.prdapikey (in addition to prdb64 and PrdEnvironment).


For all the latest news on upcoming Chrome releases, be sure to check out the Chrome Releases blog from the Chrome team at:
https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/

 Bonus Tip: Line 32 parameter bundleid can be modified for any public application. If you wanted to update the Hawaiian Airlines app, you would replace com.android.chrome with com.hawaiianairlines.app


Mahalo,
Ryan Pringnitz
Location: Wailea, Wailea-Makena, HI 96753, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Delivering Managed Configurations (key/value pairs) to Android applications with Workspace ONE UEM profiles

Image
Applications often have secrets that should not be hardcoded in the source code. This poses a challenge for developers, as ProGuard can change classes and method names, it won't help with secrets. Examples of secrets that can be removed from application source code include an API key or a OAuth refresh token. Another capability is for the MDM to dynamically deliver values to the application, such as the current logged in user, device serial number, or organization group. Google has made it more challenging to access non-resettable device identifiers like the serial number in recent years, and this remains a viable solution to provide non-resettable device identifiers (and other values) to applications running on the device. So how do we do it? Workspace ONE UEM can deliver profiles to devices. Profiles can configure a number of settings, in addition to delivering key/value pairs to your applications.  Google refers to these key/value pairs as Managed Configurations, aka application...
Read more

Clean up duplicate identities and users from Workspace ONE using REST API's and PowerShell

Image
Workspace ONE gives us a centralized management plane for our users digital workspace. But with the proliferation of identity and access management solutions, it isn't uncommon to find users with multiple identities in our management plane. Especially when you lift and shift from one identity solution to the next.  I have a friend and colleague who is working with a beverage company who have a fairly tedious task ahead of them. They have to clean up duplicate identities, and do it quickly. I thought it would be great to share a solution I put together, and discuss how you can go about cleaning up identities in your environment as well. But before we get to the good stuff; some mood lifting visual stimuli... Entrance to Andaz Maui at Wailea Fun fact: Novell eDirectory still exists. Owned and maintained by NetIQ. Any readers still using eDirectory, send me a email so I can buy you a beer. A lot of organizations start with Workspace ONE by importing identitie...
Read more

How to use Square's OkHttp Java library to access Workspace ONE UEM API's

Image
Digital workspace solutions often require consuming other services. When doing so, you may work with things like; REST API endpoints, Webhooks, gRPC, GraphQL - the list goes on. You can interact with these in a number of ways, but one way I've come to appreciate is with Java. It has been especially helpful when I've wanted to work with libraries like Appium, Selenium, OKHttp, or the Workspace ONE UEM SDK in a workflow. With that, I thought it would be helpful to share how to work with Workspace ONE UEM API's using Java. In this blog post, we will cover; Basics of JetBrain's IntelliJ IDE, touching on Apache Maven Using  Square's OkHttp   library  to call Workspace ONE UEM API's Why Java? Java is used by many and supported by most (Docker, Kubernetes, static code analysis tools, cloud service providers, Android, Windows, macOS, Tanzu Application Service, etc). Many languages compile to j ava ...
Read more