1. CrackBerry Question's Avatar
    We have a user in our network that loves BlackBerry (of course it's the president of the company). Over the past year we have been moving away from BB and migrating to iPhones where we have full management control with AirWatch.

    With the newer BlackBerry devices running Android OS, can you fully secure the BB phones with the AirWatch server, or do you still require a BES installation for MDM?

    thanks
    02-06-17 01:02 PM
  2. conite's Avatar
    We have a user in our network that loves BlackBerry (of course it's the president of the company). Over the past year we have been moving away from BB and migrating to iPhones where we have full management control with AirWatch.

    With the newer BlackBerry devices running Android OS, can you fully secure the BB phones with the AirWatch server, or do you still require a BES installation for MDM?

    thanks
    BlackBerry Android behaves like any other Android. It will work fine managed by Airwatch.
    02-06-17 01:04 PM
  3. thurask's Avatar
    They're like any other Android phone (so no need for BES/Good), but some Googling tells me that there might be some issues between AirWatch and BlackBerry's kernel tweaks.

    Best to contact your vendor and ask.
    02-06-17 01:06 PM
  4. mrfreeze's Avatar
    Yep. Airwatch or any other MDM compatible with Android devices will work great. Maybe you'll decide it's better than iPhones and switch to BlackBerry Android? Lol

    I would checkout the Mercury device coming out, if he is a physical keyboard junky.

    If not, the DTEK60 is an awesome device.
    02-06-17 01:08 PM
  5. mrfreeze's Avatar
    They're like any other Android phone (so no need for BES/Good), but some Googling tells me that there might be some issues between AirWatch and BlackBerry's kernel tweaks.

    Best to contact your vendor and ask.
    Wasn't aware of these issues. Thanks as always Thur.
    02-06-17 01:09 PM
  6. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    BlackBerry's Android powered devices are not approved for use on AirWatch. Due to BlackBerry's "tinkering" with Android, they show up a rooted devices, and thus will not connect.

    Airwatch had promised an "update" to fix this.... but AFAIK it has been long promised, but has not been released yet. This was first an issue back when the PRIV was first launched, and I know back a few months ago (DTEK60 Launch) it was still an issue. Some taught it was more AirWatch using this as something "personal" against their competition.
    02-06-17 01:46 PM
  7. JuiciPatties's Avatar
    Excuse my ignorance, since I'm not on the administration side of things. Doesn't BES boast that it can manage all devices? If that is the case, why not just use BES to manage the single BlackBerry and the lot of iPhones? I'm only wondering since it appears that AirWatch cannot manage the different set of devices.

    I'm assuming cost is one big factor, but what are the other key differences between the MDM solutions? Don't they essentially do the same thing?
    02-06-17 04:03 PM
  8. conite's Avatar
    Once the company has already chosen a given solution, you have to deal with what you have.
    02-06-17 04:06 PM
  9. bobshine's Avatar
    Also... airwatch on android is a bit of a pain... from experience. unless it was updated recently, airwatch on android doesn't work with the native calendar and contacts, at least on Samsung devices.
    02-06-17 04:12 PM
  10. JuiciPatties's Avatar
    I think the organization I work at has both. BES to manage the BlackBerry devices and AirWatch to manage iOS and Android. I could be wrong and perhaps more are being managed on BES. But I feel quite confident we are using both MDM solutions. I have no idea why though.
    02-06-17 04:22 PM
  11. conite's Avatar
    I think the organization I work at has both. BES to manage the BlackBerry devices and AirWatch to manage iOS and Android. I could be wrong and perhaps more are being managed on BES. But I feel quite confident we are using both MDM solutions. I have no idea why though.
    Probably left over from the BBOS days.

    You really only want to use one, as people collaborate with apps managed by the MDM solution.
    02-06-17 04:26 PM
  12. early2bed's Avatar
    BlackBerry's Android powered devices are not approved for use on AirWatch. Due to BlackBerry's "tinkering" with Android, they show up a rooted devices, and thus will not connect.
    Interesting. How many other MDM systems have the same issue? Since BlackBerry is a significant MDM competitor then I would imagine that while the customer support side of the company would want to fix this, the sales and strategic side may not feel obliged to enable devices that are being modified by a competitor. This may never be resolved unless there are enough BlackBerry Android handsets out there that AirWatch customers demand it be fixed.
    02-06-17 04:32 PM
  13. pnmaal's Avatar
    My company uses airwatch which works with my Priv. It syncs with the native calendar which is quite convenient. The only drawback is that you have to use airwatch inbox for email as it doesn't allow you to set up an account in the hub. Airwatch doesn't appear to consider the Hub as a native email client. Hopefully they resolve this soon.
    mrfreeze and bbc913 like this.
    02-07-17 08:41 PM
  14. conite's Avatar
    My company uses airwatch which works with my Priv. It syncs with the native calendar which is quite convenient. The only drawback is that you have to use airwatch inbox for email as it doesn't allow you to set up an account in the hub. Airwatch doesn't appear to consider the Hub as a native email client. Hopefully they resolve this soon.
    Good news.
    02-07-17 08:44 PM
  15. Robert Rudin's Avatar
    Good news.
    Hi,
    I got issues enrolling Airwatch on my KeyOne, but after a factory reset, all looks good. Now I was expecting the Airwatch and my corporate outlook account would show up in the BB Hub (like t does automatically on my iPad iOS), but no. Some searches landed me here. Is there anyone that have an update if BB Hub/Airwatch is planning to fix this?
    10-12-17 11:42 AM
  16. bobshine's Avatar
    Hi,
    I got issues enrolling Airwatch on my KeyOne, but after a factory reset, all looks good. Now I was expecting the Airwatch and my corporate outlook account would show up in the BB Hub (like t does automatically on my iPad iOS), but no. Some searches landed me here. Is there anyone that have an update if BB Hub/Airwatch is planning to fix this?
    I don’t know about the HUB but Airwatch most android devices requires its own email client. My previous employers used “Touchdown” as an email client on all Android... there was no way to get any other email app or client.

    That’s when I miss my old BBOS years where everything was integrated with the native apps. Now the only way to do that is to get an iPhone
    10-12-17 11:53 AM
  17. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Hi,
    I got issues enrolling Airwatch on my KeyOne, but after a factory reset, all looks good. Now I was expecting the Airwatch and my corporate outlook account would show up in the BB Hub (like t does automatically on my iPad iOS), but no. Some searches landed me here. Is there anyone that have an update if BB Hub/Airwatch is planning to fix this?
    Might want to see what other company's users are using (phone type and email client) to access corporate emails... many MDM require a special app for security purposes on Android. There is simply no way for them to develop, test and support all the various email clients that different Android OEMs use.

    Doubt there is much BlackBerry can do.... The more users that are vocal about the issue, the more likely Airwatch is to see it as an issue.
    10-12-17 11:57 AM

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