These release notes contain a high-level list of changes made to each version of the AppsAnywhere macOS Client.

Further information is available on Deploying AppsAnywhere Client.

Version 2.0.0 (Current Version)

Release Date: March 2023

Features

  • Menu bar icon

    • The client now displays an icon in the menu bar when running

    • Instead of displaying a dialog the client shows a busy indicator icon in the menu bar when performing any of the following actions:

      • Starting up

        • Note: The show-initialization-splash setting is now ignored and is a no-op in 2.0.0 and above

      • Validating

      • Checking for self-updates

      • Downloading and installing third-party client updates

    • Clicking the menu bar icon displays a menu which shows the following:

      • When performing an action: the current action (e.g. “Validating…”)

        • Selecting this option will display a dialog showing the current operation (as was displayed pre-2.0)

      • The current client version

      • A ‘Quit’ option to close the client

        • The ‘Quit’ option is not available when the client is performing an action

    • A dialog will still be displayed when:

      • Launching an application

      • Applying a downloaded update

      • Running an update manually (by launching the updater application)

  • Background third-party client updates

    • Updates for installed third-party clients configured to be pre-deployed are now applied in the background without displaying a dialog

      • The AppsAnywhere client checks for updates every 24 hours

      • If a third-party client is running when the update is attempted, it will be skipped and retried after 1 hour

      • If a third-party client update fails, a dialog is still displayed and the update is retried after 1 hour

    • If a third-party client is not configured to be pre-deployed or has not been installed/updated yet, it will be installed on-demand if an application that requires it is launched from AppsAnywhere

  • Validation performance improvements

    • Hardware detection is now done once on the startup of the client instead of on each validation

  • Updated branding

    • Company name and copyright information updated to “AppsAnywhere Ltd”

    • Application author updated to “AppsAnywhere”

    • Refreshed application icon design

  • Updated install, configuration file and log file paths

    • Changed installation folder from Software2 to AppsAnywhere

      • < 2.0.0: /Applications/Software2

      • >= 2.0.0: Applications/AppsAnywhere

    • Configuration files have been moved to remove references to Software2

      • Admin configuration file:

        • < 2.0.0: /Library/Preferences/com.software2.appsanywhere.plist

        • >= 2.0.0: /Library/Preferences/com.appsanywhere.admin.plist

      • User configuration file

        • < 2.0.0: ~/Library/Preferences/com.software2.appsanywhere.plist

        • >= 2.0.0: ~/Library/Preferences/com.appsanywhere.user.plist

    • Log files are now suffixed with the new bundle identifier com.aa.uk (was com.s2.uk)

      • Main application: ~/Library/Logs/Software2/com.aa.uk.AppsAnywhere {date/time}.log

      • Updater: ~/Library/Logs/Software2/com.aa.uk.Updater {date/time}.log

      • Uninstaller: ~/Library/Logs/Software2/com.aa.uk.AppsAnywhereUninstall {date/time}.log

  • Other Changes

    • Central API URL is now configurable (used for testing/development purposes only)

    • Improved updater and uninstaller application names

Fixes

  • AAMAC-146 - VMware Horizon client broken when installed by AppsAnywhere client on macOS Ventura

Version 1.6.0 (Current Version)

Released: April 2022

Features

  • Updated AppsAnywhere branding

  • AAMAC-89 - Support for Hardware App Profiles

  • Native support for Apple Silicon (e.g M1) based Macs

Fixes

  • AAMAC-74 - AppsAnywhere does not trigger Rosetta installation on M1 Mac

  • AAMAC-87 - VMware Horizon Client cannot be upgraded from an older version

  • AAMAC-95 - Gathering list of apps taking over 30 seconds on some machines

Version 1.5.2 

Released: August 2021

Fixes

  • AAMAC-86 - Executing a macOS Install delivery method instruction, does not notify once complete or launch the application even though the installation is successful. 

Version 1.5.1

Released: June 2021

Features

  • AAMAC-9 - Make third-party client detection more generic (and not dependent on the install location)

  • AAMAC-2 - Move client configuration to a user-specific directory

  • Updated AppsAnywhere branding for all splash screens

Fixes

  • AAMAC-61 - Unable to launch apps that require third-party clients if versioning information could not be retrieved

  • AAMAC-72 - Client installer has issues with upgrading from previous versions

  • AAMAC-76 - Local app detection gets stuck in a recursion loop, causing validation to fail

Version 1.4.1

Released: March 2021

Features

  • AAMAC-53 - Support managed installation of the MacOS client

Fixes

  • AAMAC-79 - Client cannot be re-installed if it was not uninstalled using the uninstaller app

Version 1.4.0

Released: November 2020

Features

  • AAMAC-56 - Manage the installation and update of the Microsoft Remote Desktop app (for Windows Virtual Desktop), in accordance with the organisation's client settings

  • AAMAC-62 - Gather information about the device's Windows Virtual Desktop configuration during validation

  • AAMAC-63 - Ability to launch the Microsoft Remote Desktop client from a launch in AppsAnywhere

  • AAMAC-55 - Implement more secure launch mechanism for Parallels RAS launches

Fixes

  • AAMAC-54 - PKG deployment fails if the package name contains spaces

  • AAMAC-68 - (From AAMAC-4) DMG deployment fails if the file format is APFS

  • AAMAC-69 - (From AAMAC-4) DMG deployment does not include apps that are found in sub-directories of the deployed volume

  • AAMAC-65 - Security improvements in response to external pen testing

Compatibility

Beware of lack of compatibility with older AppsAnywhere versions

  • Due to the changes for AAMAC-65 the 1.4.0 client will NOT accept macOS Install launch requests from AppsAnywhere versions older than v2.10

    • Customers should ensure that they are using AppsAnywhere v2.10 before upgrading to the 1.4.0 client

  • Due to the changes for AAMAC-55, the 1.4.0 client is REQUIRED for facilitating Parallels RAS launch requests from AppsAnywhere version 2.10 onwards

    • Customers should ensure that the 1.4.0 client is deployed to all managed machines and set as the minimum version in client settings when using AppsAnywhere v2.10

Version 1.3.7

Released: 8th April 2019

Features

  • AAMAC-1 - New Disable-Pre-Deploy key available to prevent pre-deployment of 3rd party clients

  • AAMAC-19 - Settings for admins managing Mac OS devices now match those available for Windows client.. This includes:

    • Force-set Institution ID

    • Disable update checks

    • Show initialization splash on startup

    • On-site/Off-site Machines (AAMAC-10)

    • Institution-Owned/User-Owned flags

    • Pre-deploy of third-party clients (AAMAC-1)

Fixes

  • AAMAC-6 - Non admin users can now launch DMG delivery method apps

  • AAMAC-13 - Third party minimum version is now respected irrespective of pre-deploy status.

Version 1.3.6 

Released: 30th November 2018

Fixes

  • AAMAC-8 - Dock no longer hidden on application launch/click on dock during validation.

Version 1.3.4

Released: 30th August 2018

Fixes

  • AA-657 - Jamf Pro Integration

  • AA-942 - Improve client detection to avoid having to ask the user if they have previously used AppsAnywhere

  • AAMAC-15 - Add Uninstaller App for Mac Client

  • AAMAC-11 - Remove need to user to enter elevated permissions again when installing Parallels Client

Version 1.3.3

Released: 8th May 2018

Fixes

  • AA-756 - Security Update for Parallels Integration

Version 1.3.2

Released: 5th March 2018

Features

  • Added reporting of Laptop vs Desktop to enable AppsAnywhere 2.4 laptop detection functionality

Version 1.2.0

Released: 28th July 2017

Features

  • Parallels Client integration

Version 1.1.0

Released: 30th June 2017

Features

  • Ability to detect and launch locally installed apps

  • VMware View Integration

  • Advanced third-party client management workflow

  • Improved self-update functionality

Fixes

  • System files re-located to more sensible locations:

    • Log files - ~/Library/Logs/Software2

    • Configuration file - /Users/Shared/Library/Application Support/Software2/AppsAnywhereConfig.plist

    • Launch agents - ~/Library/LaunchAgents

  • Added an icon to the executables

  • macOS Install method detects a re-run and just launches the app

  • AppsAnywhere splash screen is no longer topmost

  • Self-initialisation from RequestClient is now handled correctly

  • Changed self-update to run at a random time through the day to reduct server load

Version 1.0.0 - Initial Release

Released: 22nd November 2016

Features

  • Encrypted messaging with AppsAnywhere

  • Browser protocol message handling

  • AppsAnywhere session validation

  • Self-update functionality