Apple @ Work: ABmate offers Apple Business Manager the perfect Mac app

Apple @ Work is brought to you only by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that brings together in one professional-grade platform all the solutions needed to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage, and secure Apple devices in the workplace. More than 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work effortlessly and affordably. Request your FREE TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.

Apple Business Manager (and Apple School Manager) is the true source of Apple device management. If the device is not in ABM, it is definitely not in your affected ship. While a web site has evolved over the years, it is still a web site. It usually takes me longer to log in, authorize 2FA, etc., than it does to actually search. That’s why I was happy to meet ABmate recently.

About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed the company’s IT network from 2009 to 2021. With his experience in deploying and managing firewalls, switches, mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, 1000’s of Macs, and 1000’s of iPads, Bradley will highlight the ways Apple IT managers deploy, IT users deploy IT users supporting Apple devices, train Apple management methods. Apple can improve its products for IT departments.

A native GUI for your ABM dictionary

ABmate is an open source tool that wraps the Apple Business Manager API into a native macOS interface. It’s written in SwiftUI, so it feels right at home on your Mac. The premise is simple: instead of logging into Apple Business Manager to check the status of the device, you open ABMate. Because it communicates directly with Apple’s new Enterprise Manager API, it pulls data much faster than the official portal site.

The app covers the main tasks you likely do every day within Apple Business Manager:

• Checking the Device: You can view a device’s full details, including model, color, OS version, and warranty status, just by looking it up by product number.
• MDM Server Provisioning Function: If you manage multiple MDM servers (holdovers from M&A, etc.), moving devices between them in a web portal can be a pain. ABmate allows you to quickly assign or unassign devices to the app.
• Batch functionality: You can perform these actions on multiple devices at once without creating or formatting a CSV file first.

Because this interacts with your business data, you’ll need to generate an API token in Apple Business Manager to use it. The app runs locally on your machine, so your keys stay with you, but you should follow your own internal security protocols when using third-party tools with production credentials.

You can download ABmate from GitHub. If you find it useful, I recommend giving the project a star to support the developer. Ever since Apple introduced the new Apple Business Manager API, I’ve been amazed at some of the tools developers are building!

Apple @ Work is brought to you only by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that brings together in one professional-grade platform all the solutions needed to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage, and secure Apple devices in the workplace. More than 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work effortlessly and affordably. Request your FREE TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.