IOS – Homescreen changes via iOS Enterprise Remote Device Management

configurationconfiguration-profilesenterpriseiosremote control

I'm trying to find out if it is possible on the iOS Developer Enterprise Program to remotely add a home screen bookmark to a website.

For example: a user can visit a website and add a shortcut to that webpage to their home screen in Mobile Safari via the Share context menu and picking "Add to Homescreen". I want to be able to reproduce this remotely to all the devices under my control as a matter of automation.

I understand that Apple have a Mobile Device Management Protocol (MDM) that can be used to install a configuration profile to devices. The documentation lists the following about configuration profiles:

A configuration profile contains a number of settings that you can
specify, including:

  • Restrictions on device features
  • Wi-Fi settings
  • VPN settings
  • Email server settings
  • Exchange settings
  • LDAP directory service settings
  • CalDAV calendar service settings
  • Web clips Credentials and keys

So there's nothing there about home screen configuration.

Is there any way of remotely adding home screen bookmarks to iOS devices?

PS. I'm aware that a work around to this is to create a browser wrapper application and remotely push this app. However, that is not what I wish to do.

Best Answer

Bingo! you've already got it there in your question.

Your last item "Web clips Credentials and keys" should actually be two - "Web Clips" and "Credentials and Keys" in which case, "Web Clips" is the one you're looking for. A "Web Clip" is a home screen bookmark for a website.

From the Enterprise Deployment Guidelines:

Web Clip Settings

Use this payload to add web clips to the Home screen of the user’s device. Web clips provide fast access to favorite web pages. Make sure the URL you enter includes the prefix http:// or https://—this is required for the web clip to function correctly. For example, to add the online version of the iPhone User Guide to the Home screen, specify the web clip URL: http://help.apple.com/iphone/ To add a custom icon, select a graphic file in gif, jpeg, or png format, 59 x 60 pixels in size. The image is automatically scaled and cropped to fit, and converted to png format if necessary.

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