Sunday 27 September 2020

iOS VPP App installation errors with Intune

I recently conducted an Intune pilot where Intune was integrated with Apple Business Manager. This allowed us to synchronize apps purchased through the Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP). VPP simplifies the process of purchasing and deploying iOS apps.


Apps were synchronized and appeared in the Intune portal where they could assigned to groups of users.


However there were errors when the apps were installed on the test devices. There were two specific errors:

Can't find VPP license for app (0x87D13B95)

VPP App licensing pending user consent. Ensure the user has accepted the VPP management invite. (0x87D13B92)

Both errors referred to app licensing so I was pretty sure that the problem was with how the apps were assigned in Intune.

The apps were configured for device licensing in Apple Business Manager. VPP Device Assignment grants app licenses directly to a device, identifying it by serial number. This makes VPP Device Assignment the best option to use when you do not want to associate your apps to end user's Apple ID. The apps install completely silently with VPP Device Assignment.


However the apps were assigned with User licensing in Intune. 

Apps that were assigned as "Required" were straightforward to fix.


We just had to edit the assignment and choose Device licensing


Apps that were assigned as "Available" were not as straightforward.


The licensing options were greyed out. 

In this case you must remove the assignment and start again. 


This time edit the assignment before saving it and you can choose Device licensing.


This solved both problems and the apps installed correctly.
 
Note that User licensing is the default setting and you have to change it to Device licensing. For Available apps you must change it when you create the assignment and before you save it. For Required apps you can edit the setting afterwards.

I hope this helps.

Until next time......