DevRel 33 was focused on your experience as an Esper customer. This sprint was centered around UX upgrades and feature expansion, with an overarching goal of helping customers get the insight and context they need within the flow-of-work.
The Esper Engineering team upgraded the Console experience these past two weeks spanning usability of sidebars, reporting, and filter functions. Several customer releases included in this sprint expanded Esper’s ability to support diverse Android devices, OS versions, and use cases.
Here’s the outline of the DevRel 33 Release Notes:
- “What’s New” Feature Added to Dashboard
- Unsupported Device Feature Flag Improvements
- Sidebar Improvements
- Activity Feed Added to Apps Section
- Improved Device Information in Apps Section
- Local Caching for Device List Filters
- Enhancements to Device List Views and Actions
- Reports enhancements – Location Change
- Customer Release: Lenovo M10 TB-X605F OS Update Controls
- Customer Release: Notification-less Remote View on Lenovo M10 TB-X605F
- Customer Release: New Device Models with Signed DPC Plugin
- Customer Release: Supervisor Shell
1. “What’s New” Dashboard Feature
We’ve added a new activity feed section directly to the dashboard that features a quick look at “What’s New.” This is a launchpad to learn more about updates and improvements to your Esper experience. Simply click on What’s New in the upper right part of the screen, and a slide out will appear that you can scroll through to see what’s new.
DevRel 33 is going to be the first release summarized in the “What’s New” feature, but it certainly won’t be the last.
2. Unsupported Feature Flags
We’ve improved the UI in the Esper Console when a provisioned device does not support a specific feature available from the Console. Given the diversity of the Android OS, oftentimes devices do not include the capabilities needed to execute a particular command from the Console. Now, you can detect at a glance whether a particular feature is supported on the device or not.
Corresponding messages surround each unsupported feature flag with context so you can more effectively navigate the console avoiding potentially frustrating experience pushing a settings change unsupported on a particular device.
Here are some of the freshly-added error messages when feature selections are flagged in the Console:
- Only Supported on Android [Version]
- Requires Additional Device Setup
- Requires Selecting Android Launcher in Provisioning Template
- Requires Selecting DPC Launcher in Provisioning Template
- Requires Device Support for Bluetooth
- Requires Device Support for WiFi
- Requires Device Support for GPS
- Requires Enabling a Feature Disabled in Settings
- Requires System Settings for Write Permissions for DPC in Device
3. Sidebar Improvements
Streamlined access to information and action is at the core of a positive user experience. The sidebar features in the Esper console have been upgraded to help remove friction from your workflow.
All the sidebars for Esper users have been improved for better aesthetics and usability. There shouldn’t be any significant impact on usability, beyond improvements to design and functionality.
Design and usability improvements have been added to the:
- Device Feeds Sidebar
- Sidebar for Device App Installs, Permissions, and Disabling Actions
- Status of Device Actions Sidebar
- What’s New Section Sidebar
- Device Kiosk App Changes Sidebar
4. Activity Feed Added to Apps Section
Operations personnel need high-level overviews of changes across device experiences. These overviews need to scale alongside growing device deployments.
We’ve added an Activity Feed to the Apps Section of the Esper Console under the Device view. Click the information symbol in the upper right hand corner to view a drop-down list of recent information. From here, you’re able to view key status on recent install and uninstall activities.
Information that’s displayed in the Apps Section Activity Feed includes:
- User
- Action Performed
- App Name
- Version
- Package Name
- App Type (Enterprise/Google)
- Status (Success/Failed)
5. Improvements to App Section
You need fast, convenient access to see the app versions deployed on devices. Version visibility can help you shift toward better app update management and create a basis for enhanced deployments, like localized or customized device experiences.Now, you can access a quick overview of the number of installed devices for each application and app version.
From this new overview, available for each version of the app you can take action to manage that version on one or more devices.
6. Local Caching for Device List Filters
Now, it’s simpler than ever to customize your device list views and return to your customized Device List experience within the Esper Console.
About two weeks ago, DevRel 32 included a new device list view functionality. We added the ability to sort the device list by:
- Group Name
- Policy Name
- Registration Date
- Last Seen
- Battery Level
The default device list sort is device registration date, unless you choose another sort method.
Custom filters to Device List view are now stored locally via browser caching. Your sort preferences are automatically applied when you return to this page unless you update your preferences (or clear your cache).
7.Enhancements to Device List Views and Actions
We’ve worked to improve the usability design and capabilities within the Device List View by creating a new unified buttons menu, adding all-new table settings, and adding a sidebar menu for Device List actions.
New Unified Buttons UX
The menu of buttons on the right-hand size of the device list view is meant to be a quick-hit resource to filter your view or download device data. We decluttered the buttons to improve usability of existing device list actions.
New Settings for Device Table View
A new menu of Table Settings allows you to add and remove columns, control density, and perform other customization activities to improve the look and function of your Device Lists.
You can now add/remove device table columns to view:
- Online/Offline status
- Device Serial Number
- Group Name
- Policy Name
- GMS/Non-GMS Device
- Network Type
- Android Version
- Registered On date
- Risk Status
- Battery Percentage
- Last Seen
- DPC Version
- Template Name
- Model
- WiFI SSD
- Location
- Tags
New Actions Sidebar
A new sidebar UX provides convenient, expanded access to take action across one or more devices:
- Install App
- Uninstall App
- Apply Policy
These new sidebar capabilities build on the existing Device List sidebar. The previous sidebar offered Device Ping and Reboot actions.
Improved UX for the Command Status Component Tab
The Command Status Component Tab now offers additional detail when you hover over the progress bar.
Improvements to the New Device Command History Sidebar
You need easy access to details about commands at-a-glance. We’ve created an all-new sidebar UX which features easy to find details on commands performed.
Device Command Activity Feed Updates
Another UX improvement for the Device Info sidebar lets you toggle between tabs that feature a feed of device updates and command activity updates.
8. Reports Enhancement: Location
Visibility throughout the entire Android device lifecycle is the basis for control. We created a new enhancement to custom and daily reports to include data on the last known location of devices.
Custom Report Location Enhancement
The new “Last Known Location” field for custom reporting allows you to specify the last known location of a device when it was last online. Location data is reported in a city, state, country, and zip code format from geocoded GPS coordinates data.
Daily Report Location Enhancements
Yesterday’s Location –Daily device reports for a day are generated the following morning. In this context, the “Last Known Location” field would indicate the location of the device on the reporting day start.
For example, a daily report for 03/31/2020 is generated on 04/01/2020. Yesterday’s location would reflect 23:59:59 on 03/31/2020, for the 04/01/2020 report.
Recently Changed Location– This daily reporting field indicates if the device changed location within the day of the report. If the location didn’t change, this field is populated with ‘No.: If the location changed during the reporting day, this field will be populated with the post-change location.
9.Customer Release: Lenovo M10 TB-X605F OS Update Control
By working with Lenovo, Esper now has capability to control the cadence and timing of OTA updates for Lenovo M10 TB-X605F devices. This capability is not built into the standard Esper enrollment. Please contact us atandi@esper.iofor more details.
10. Customer Release: Notification-less Remote View on Lenovo M10 TB-X605F
Esper now supports notification-less Remote View on the M10 TB-X605F. This capability is not built into the standard Esper enrollment. Please contact us atandi@esper.iofor more details.
11.Customer Release: New Device Models with Signed DPC Plugin
When the Esper DPC Plugin is signed with the OEM’s platform key, Remote Control is enabled for that model. Esper has added additional signed Plugins to our lineup:
- Nokia 2.2
- Nokia 2.3
- Various Lenovo tablet models (please inquire)
- Various Rockchip ODM devices specific to those ODMs
Note these are currently not added by default to a customer’s tenant. Please contact us if you have these models on your tenant and would like to enable Remote Control, or if you have a specific model you would like to work with Esper to get signed by your device maker.
12.Customer Release: Supervisor Shell
A new customer release opens up some new possibilities for privileged operations among Esper’s current customer base. As an example the SupervisorShell component allows you to downgrade the application version without losing data.
SupervisorShell also lets customers fetch bug reports on devices running Android versions lower than 7.0 with no permission prompts and no impact on the end user experience.
Normally, the device user had to open device notifications and click “share” to manually provide bug reports to admins. The SupervisorShell component allows Esper to bypass these user permission requirements to obtain bug reports with no device user permission.
Obtaining the OEM’s platform signature on this Supervisor Shell is a prerequisite to enabling the SupervisorShell capability on the device. In addition, this component is currently only supported for Android versions 4.4 – 7.0 for a select group of customers. Please contact us directly to discuss further.
That’s it for DevRel 33. Stay tuned because DevRel 34 will be here before we know it. We’re bringing you another sprint filled with UX upgrades and new features. Not to spoil the surprise, but it’s going to be big. The focus of DevRel 34 is platform upgrades.
We’re listening and we want to know what you think about this latest sprint. Please share your suggestions, questions, and comments with our team by submitting a ticket.