Android Device Policy sync does not work until done manually

Question

We have some android devices attached to Android Management API as fully managed work devices.

Now when we push out some changes to the device policy such as Factory Reset Disabled, Adjust Volume Button Disabled or any other such controls, the devices don't sync it immediately.

In fact we have to manually open up Android Device Policy and click on Sync for it actually get the changes.

This is really troublesome because at times the policy doesn't sync for hours together and the devices don't get the updates.

Also we load up the whole policy of the device for every control change because if not the other controls go back to null, can Patch or UpdateMask be used to avoid this?

Can someone please suggest me of what can be done to make sure the device gets the policy changes immediately ?

Dissert

Hi Sudhu, if you need to update only one setting, for example cameraDisabled, just call patch() with updateMask set to cameraDisabled. Other values will keep their current values. You can specify more settings to be updated at once by separating them with a comma. Hope this helps! – Auric

Did this also solve the issue where sync is not automatic? If yes, would it be possible to write it down in an answer? Thanks! – Bushcraft

@Fred, unfortunately No, it does not. This is really very troublesome for me. We pushed an App update yesterday and it's still not reflected on the device, the policy shows the app is indeed updated. – Dissert

Update: we're still actively looking into this issue. We haven't found the root cause yet. – Bushcraft

The issue should now be resolved. Can you confirm? Thanks – Bushcraft

@Bushcraft Is there a solution to this? We've tried apply policy updates both in full and using 'updateMask'. Same result either way. The device is not compliant until we manually sync the phone in 'Android Device Policy' or the device randomly syncs itself. (Even thought the API says the device is compliant) I can't find any documentation on setting sync times. Locking / Rebooting a phone is instantaneous. – Carvel

@RCCola, can you share a bug report in the EMM community please so we can look into your issue? Thanks! – Bushcraft

HI @Bushcraft I'd be happy to but we don't have a current EMM account. Is there somewhere else we can log a bug report? – Carvel

Answer 1

Try with the settings: "appAutoUpdatePolicy": "ALWAYS",

"systemUpdate": { "type": "AUTOMATIC" }

I have my device update in a few seconds.

Herminiahermione

Answer 2

I've run into the same issue, despite the documentation assuring that policy updates are applied to all devices that utilize the updated policy.

The best workaround I have found is to issue a REBOOT command to any device that I specifically want to update. While this usually leads to the device rebooting twice, it does immediately happen, and after the second reboot the device seems to pickup policy updates.

Microvolt

Unfortunately rebooting a device is not an idle solution and most probably no client would agree to do so. And also we face the issue with reboot as well i.e device reboots 2-3 times. – Dissert

Answer 3

It also depends upon device to device. Many devices brand like samsung, oneplus updates fastly and there are other brands like techno, itel which takes a lot of time to update the policy

Favor

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