413: Summer in the City

Summer in the City

Summer and the heat seem to have much of the Northen Hemisphere in a firm grip. But this doesn’t seem to slow down Apple or the Mac Admin community. Security updates and beta releases for both 26.6 and 27.0, as well as Creator Studio app updates from Apple, and lots of tool and app updates from the Mac Admin community.

Conference season is still going on, with MDOYUL earlier, Mac Admins Conference this week and Mac Admins India Connect coming up!

This is the second Summer Camp issue. Next issue is in two weeks, July 24. MacAdmins.news will remain on a two-weekly schedule until September 4.

📰 News and Opinion

How Apple's decade-long bet on chips won over AI teams

Jason Hiner, The Deep View:

Doug Brooks, senior product manager of Apple silicon, discussed how Apple's long-term investments in neural processing, unified memory, power-efficient computing, and hardware-software integration have positioned its devices for the AI era.

French Mac Admins Agree: WWDC 2026 was a Strong one for Enterprise and Education

Guilleaume Gète:

Launching the inaugural Mac Admins User Group Paris meetup during Apple annual developer conference week was quite a challenge… but a good one,

Keep your Mac cool using physics

Howard Oakley:

With more heatwaves expected across Europe and North America, this summer is already proving a challenge for those who can’t use their Macs in rooms that have effective air conditioning.

⚙️ Apple Updates

Platform updates 26.5.2

• macOS Tahoe 26.5.2 (25G84): What's new, Security
• iOS and iPadOS 26.5.2: 26.5.2
• Safari 26.5.2: Security

Applications

• Apple Press Release on Creator Studio updates
• Pages 15.3: Mac, iPhone, iPad, visionPro, iCloud
• Keynote 15.3: Mac, iPhone, iPad, visionOS, iCloud
• Numbers 15.3: Mac, iPhone, iPad, visionOS , iCloud
• Logic Pro: Mac 12.3, iPad 3.3
• MainStage 4.3: Release Notes
• Final Cut Pro: Mac 12.3, iPad 3.3
• Compressor 5.3
• Motion 6.3
• Pixelmator Pro 4.3: Mac, iPad

Testing macOS 27 VM

Rob Potvin has beenconstantly blogging about the challenges with macOS 27 VMs.

🔐 Security and Privacy

Apple’s Hide My Email doesn’t hide it very well

Pieter Arntz, Malwarebytes:

a researcher has found a vulnerability in Apple’s Hide My Email feature that could allow someone to discover a person’s real email address.

Is malware protection changing?

Howard Oakley:

How long has it been since the last security data update to macOS, for XProtect or XProtect Remediator (XPR)?

Block and monitor EDR Freeze on macOS with Santa and Fleet

Dhruv Majumdar, Fleet blog:

EDR Freeze suspends a security tool instead of killing it, so the process looks healthy while it quietly stops working.

🔨 Support and Tutorials

Building Your Own Installomator

Richard Glaser:

Installomator is one of those Mac admin tools that starts simple: run a label, install the app, move on with your day. Then your environment grows.

• Part 1: Why Fork It, and a Quick Start
• Part 2: Branches, Cadence, and Choosring a Workflow Level
• Part 3: Hands-On, Pulling, and Curated Labels
• Part 4: Building and Deploying Your Package

Build Jamf DDM Update Blueprints for macOS and iOS

Jon Brown:

I do not try to build the entire deployment in one sitting. That usually leads to troubleshooting three different problems at the same time. Instead, I build the workflow in layers.

Using Secretive and TouchID for sshing

Brandon (BK) Kurtz:

Secretive is an open-source macOS app for protecting and managing SSH keys with the Secure Enclave.

Review the Package Before You Build the Policy

Jon Brown:

Before it reaches production, I want to understand what it’s installing, how Jamf is going to deliver it, what other configuration the application depends on, and how I’ll verify that everything worked after the policy runs.

Firmware has become complicated again

Howard Oakley:

As far as I’m aware, this is the first time in the last six years that large numbers of Macs will have firmware that is out of sync.

How to Configure Okta Platform SSO Simplified Setup on macOS with Jamf Pro

HCS Technology Group:

a step-by-step guide to configuring Okta Platform Single Sign-On (SSO) with simplified setup on macOS using Jamf Pro, including certificate management and device access integration.

🤖 Scripting and Automation

VPP via Setup Manager? Challenge accepted.

Philip Ross:

Since the release of Jamf Setup Manager, it's not been possible to install App Store Applications through VPP whilst running Setup Manager....until now!

Introducing Conditional Logic for JamfUploader and JamfCLIRunner

Graham Pugh:

For such circumstances, it would be neat if there was some logic to be able to skip a process based on some predicate

Third-Party-Patcher

Gil Burns:

Third Party Patcher (TPP) is a macOS MDM agnostic, MDM managed, daemon-based patching and software distribution system for IT administrators. It automatically discovers installed third-party applications, checks for available updates, downloads installers in the background, and applies them.

♻️ Updates and Releases

• DFU Blaster Pro 5.0
• Suspicious Package 4.6.2
• Installomator v10.9
• Setup Manager 1.4.7
• erase-install v43.1
• Munki 7.2 Official Release
• App Auto-Patch 3.6.0 RC4
• MACE v1.1.0-beta.2
• Mist 0.40
• swiftDialog 3.1.0 RC 1
• DDM OS Reminder 4.0.0 (blog post)
• jamf-cli v1.22.0
• Container Manager 1.0.6
• Terraform Provider Jamf Platform v0.23.0
• Workbrew 1.10

📺 Watch

Marriott Library, Mac Admins Meeting, June 2026

• Accessibility is for Everyone – Damien Barrett, Corning Inc.
• Introduction to DDM Explorer 2.0 – Mark Buffington, Jamf

AI Governance on Mac: A Practical Guide for IT and Security Teams

Jamf: (Webinar)

as organizations push for AI-driven productivity gains, teams need to find ways that enable AI tools without compromising security.

🎧 Listen

OS 27 Support, Siri AI, and the New Backup Reality

Command Control Power:

early impressions of iOS 27 on an iPhone 15 Pro Max and interest in Siri AI on newer iPhone hardware, plus Apple’s macOS 27 compatibility list ending Intel support while continuing support for 2020 M1 Macs, which they estimate could extend security updates to roughly 2029.

The 3 pillars of AI for the Apple enterprise

Apple @ Work:

Matt Vlasach, SVP of Enterprise Product and Solutions Engineering at Jamf joins the show to talk about their recent survey around AI usage amongst Apple focused enterprise.

AI Governance

Mac Admins Podcast:

Matt Vlasach is back to talk to us about AI Governance and how Jamf is tackling this in an authentically Apple way.

macOS ClickFix is back for more

Apple @ Work:

Ray Canzanese from Netskope joins the show to discuss the latest macOS ClickFix campaign, designed to create a permanent backdoor.

This pay gap is programmed

Lock and Code:

we speak with Dubal—professor of law at the UC Irvine School of Law—about how algorithmic wage discrimination works, what data it consumes to function, and the threat it poses as it creeps from gig work into many more industries.

🎈 Just For Fun

Bringing Swift to the Apple II

Yeo Kheng Meng:

I built SwiftII, a Swift-flavored mini development environment for the original Apple II to a IIe and up.