New features and enhancements summary

• Branding-related updates: As part of the branding updates, the "MobileIron Cloud" name has been changed to "Ivanti Neurons for MDM."

• Prevention of overriding Microsoft restrictions: For the AppConnect wrapper, logic was added to remove actions from the context menu (for example, translation) that was added by Android. This feature was added to prevent overriding the copy/paste restriction in Microsoft products such as Edge, Outlook, Bing, etc.

• Certified with Samsung OS 12: Ivanti has certified AppConnect for Android 9.4.0.0 with the Samsung OS 12 build provided by Samsung.

• Support of Android Gradle plugin version 4.2: Starting from the Android Gradle tool plugin version 4.2+, the Android Asset Packaging Tool (AAPT2) resource compiler was replaced with Java Virtual Machine (JVM) resource compiler. All resource XML files now have obfuscated names and paths. For more information, see https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/gradle-plugin#resource-compiler.

There are no new features in this release.

The following new features and enhancements are provided with this release:

• Support for FCM and Firebase Crashlytics: The following support items were added to Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) and Crashlytics:
  • Added -googleService flag that can be used with the wrap tool to allow the replacement of Firebase authentication data with one that is related to the wrapped package name project.

  • Added support of Firebase Cloud Messaging plugin with version 21.

    For more information, Firebase Cloud Messaging and Crashlytics support and Uploading and wrapping an app in the AppConnect for Android App Developers Guide,

• Support for Android OS 12 added: Apps wrapped with AppConnect 9.3.0.0 for Android work as expected on Android 12 devices. For more information, see Support and compatibility.
• Support for home screen shortcuts:The Secure Apps Manager (SAM) displays a list of Secure Apps. When tapping and holding one of the app icons, a list of shortcuts displays. These shortcuts were declared in the wrapped app's manifest file. For more information, see Generation 1 and Generation 2 wrapper limitations in the AppConnect for Android App Developers Guide, Support for Android OS 6 has been deprecated. For more information, see Support and compatibility.
• Support for PhoneGap apps have been EOL'd. For more information, see PhoneGap's website.

• Enhancements to Command line interface (CLI) support with the AppConnect wrapping tool: The help description was clarified in the help command in CLI mode of wrapping Android app using the AppConnect wrapping tool. For more information see Using the AppConnect for Android Wrapping Tool in CLI mode in the AppConnect for Android App Developers Guide.

• New registration of Android 10+ devices limited to Android Enterprise or MAM-only modes: From Core version 11.3.0.0, Device Admin is restricted for new device registrations with Android OS 10 and below. However, for AppConnect, the Core administrator can register devices and SAM-wrapped apps by adding a new policy in Android Quick Setup and assign it to Android devices. For more information, see Configuring registration for Android devices with AppConnect using Android Quick Setup in the AppConnect Guide for Core 11.3.0.0 and "Working with Android Quick Setup policies" in the Core Device Management Guide for Android and Android Enterprise Devices.

• Added new TextToSpeech class methods: For Android 12 and later versions, these TextToSpeech class methods are secured by AppConnect:
  • addEarcon (String, File) and addSpeech (String, File) added in API 21
  • addEarcon (String, Uri) and addSpeech (String, Uri) added in API 31

  For more information, see Generation 1 and Generation 2 support for commonly used app capabilities in the AppConnect for Android App Developers Guide.

• Changes in wrapper support of Android Gradle: Because of Android Gradle plugin build cache being removed by Android, starting from the com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.2.0 plugin, Ivanti made the following changes for release builds: 

  • created new stage that crunches PNG files

  • file names of resources were obfuscated

  • link-obfuscated names now go into the resources.arsc file

  For more information, see https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/gradle-plugin#behavior_changes.

• Content changes for rebranding and distribution: Product documentation has been rebranded to align with Ivanti standards and is now available on the Ivanti documentation website.

For new features and enhancements provided in previous AppConnect for Android releases, see the release notes for those releases at AppConnect for Android Product Documentation Home Page. An Ivanti Community login may be required.