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Conferences, continued…
I got a lot of feedback on the summary of conferences in last week's issue. So, yes, I went back up updated the Conferences page I used to keep on scriptingosx.com.... I will try to keep this updated, let me know if you see anything that needs fixing or updating or if you know something worth adding.
📰 News and Opinion
Shaping the Future of macOS Security Compliance: Highlights from the First mSCP Developer Conference
Tony Young on Patch Notes and Progress
Taking place at the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in Rockville, Maryland, this was the first official developer event centered around mSCP.
Toward Phones With Fewer Distractions
But when you stop to think that a century ago we gave every last human on earth the ability to interrupt us in the middle of tasks with a socially acceptable way to do so?
The drastic approach in this post might be overkill, but I have been curating apps and notifications on my phone and watch very carefully for a few years. I don't believe I have un-muted my phone since more than a decade ago.
⚙️ Apple Updates
Apple Platform Updates: March/April 2025
macOS
- macOS Sequoia 15.4, 24E248: What's new, Developer Release Notes, Security, Enterprise, App Store, IPSW, PKG installer
- macOS Sonoma 14.7.5 (23H527): What's new, Security, Enterprise (no new notes), PKG installer
- macOS Ventura 13.7.5 (22H527): What's new, Security, Enterprise (no new notes), PKG installer
- Safari 18.4: WebKit Features, Developer Release Notes, Security
iOS and iPadOS
- iOS 18.4: About, Enterprise
- iPadOS 18.4: About, Enterprise
- iOS and iPadOS 18.4: Developer Release Notes, Security
- iOS and PadOS 17.7.6: About, Security
- iOS and iPadOS 16.7.11: About, Security
- iOS and iPadOS 15.8.4: About, Security
Other Platforms
- watchOS 11.4: About, Developer Release Notes, Security
- tvOS 18.4: About, Developer Release Notes, Security
- visionOS 2.4: About, Developer Release Notes, Security, Enterprise
- HomePod Software 18.4: About ("performance and stability improvements")
- AirPods: Firmware updates (7E101 for AirPods Max with USB-C)
- Swift 6.1 (also swiftly 1.0)
Applications
- Xcode 16.3: Mac App Store, Developer Downloads, Developer Release Notes
- Pages 14.4: Mac, iPhone, iPad, iCloud
- Keynote 14.4: Mac, iPhone, iPad, iCloud
- Numbers 14.4: Mac, iPhone, iPad, iCloud
- Apple Configurator: Mac 2.18, iPhone 1.1
Deployment Guides
- Apple Platform Deployment: Welcome, What's new, Revision history
- Apple Platform Certifications: Welcome, Revision history
Apple has released macOS Sequoia 15.4, and 14.7.5, 13.7.5
Apple has just released the update to macOS Sequoia to bring it to version 15.4, and security updates for 14.7.5 and 13.7.5.
Managing Apple Intelligence features on macOS Sequoia 15.4
Rich Trouton on DerFlounder
Apple has added new management options for Apple Intelligence as part of the release of macOS Sequoia 15.4.
Suppressing the Software Update screen with a configuration profile on macOS Sequoia
Rich Trouton on DerFlounder
Apple added a new Software Update screen as part of macOS Sequoia 15.4.0.
Apple iOS 18.4 Emoji Changelog
Apple has officially introduced eight new emoji designs in iOS 18.4, including a paint splatter, a harp, and a face with bags under its eyes
🔐 Security and Privacy
🔨 Support and Tutorials
Implementing OIDC-based Single Sign-On
Blueprints, as well as future features, is built as a service that can be utilized across the Jamf portfolio. To access this platform capability, organizations must implement OIDC-based single sign-on (SSO)
Self Service+ URL Schemes
Dr K on Jamf Community
how to map policy URLs from Jamf Pro to the new schema and have the actions load within Self Service+
How macOS Sequoia launches an app
This article steps through the major landmarks seen when launching a notarized app that has already passed its first-run checks and is known to macOS Sequoia 15.3, on an Apple silicon Mac.
Self Service+ post roundup for early 2025
We're a few iterations into Self Service+ (or SSP) for MacOS, and I've posted a few items over on the Jamf Community site to help folks with basic use and testing.
Managing Licensed Software with Data
We want to enable end users to have access to the best tools we can provide them to do their job with the least amount of friction to get them, while also enforcing cost savings initiatives wherever we can.
Building MacBooks with Jamf Setup Manager
In the last of this series of posts about Jamf Setup Manager, I discuss how we use it to provision MacBooks. This is our primary use case for JSM.
🤖 Scripting and Automation
App Auto-Patch 3: 17-minute Quick-start for Jamf Pro
The go-to, open source, “patch-nearly-every-macOS-app-I-didn’t-even-know-was-in-my-environment”
🎧 Listen
A New Conference, Mac Admins India
Karthik and Shyam join us to talk about their experiences being part of organising this community as well as what they have planned for the conference.
The meeting of the Brads
Brad Kowalk from Hero Assistant about the problems with the current generation of digital assistants, what's needed to advance the technology, and where we are most likely headed.
🦣 Social Media
Adam Codega on Mastodon
irrelephant.co