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AppsAnywhere Client (macOS)

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 2.2.0 (Current Version)

Release Date: March 2024

Features

Launch the AppsAnywhere portal

You can now launch the AppsAnywhere portal directly from the desktop client via the new ‘Launch Portal’ menu option. This will open the last AppsAnywhere portal that you used in your default web browser. If you haven’t accessed AppsAnywhere and validated yet, the menu option will be disabled.

View detected device information

You can now see the device information detected by the client via the new ‘Device Information’ menu option.

'About' screen

An ‘About’ menu option has been added which displays the current client version number.

Draggable windows

Client application windows can now be dragged and closed. We disable the close button during certain operations.

Log directory paths have changed

Log files are now stored in AppsAnywhere branded directories.

  • < 2.1.0: ~/Library/Logs/Software2

  • >= 2.1.0: ~/Library/Logs/AppsAnywhere

Collect support data

A menu option for collating all client log files into an easy to share zip folder.

Support for macOS client configuration via configuration profile

Configuration of the client can be standardised for all managed Mac devices via the configuration profile.

Compatibility

macOS 12 and later is now required

Starting with version 2.2.0, the AppsAnywhere macOS client only supports macOS 12 and later.

Fixes

  • AAMAC-161 Long Jamf Pro policy success messages display correctly

  • AAMAC-170 Installer runs correctly on a system with the 2.0.0 client already installed, and the client is started automatically

  • AAMAC-178 “AppsAnywhere.app would like to access data from other apps" message during validation on macOS 14 doesn’t appear

  • AAMAC-167 Supplementary security update

  • AAMAC-174 Supplementary security update

  • AAMAC-181 Supplementary security update

  • AAMAC-183 Supplementary security update

  • AAMAC-184 Supplementary security update

  • AAMAC-185 Supplementary security update

  • AAMAC-186 Supplementary security update

Version 2.0.2 (Latest Version)

Release Date: January 2024

This release of the AppsAnywhere Mac client requires AppsAnywhere server with patch AA-5085

Fixes

  • AAMAC-174 - Security update

  • AAMAC-183 - Security update

    • Our thanks to Gaelan Steele for reporting this issue.

  • AAMAC-184 - Security update

    • Our thanks to Gaelan Steele for reporting this issue.

  • AAMAC-185 - Security update

    • Our thanks to Gaelan Steele for reporting this issue.

  • AAMAC-186 - Security update

Version 2.0.1

Release Date: October 2023

This release of the AppsAnywhere Windows client requires AppsAnywhere server with patch AA-5085

Fixes

  • AA-5085 - Security update.

    • Our thanks to Gaelan Steele for reporting this issue.

  • AAMAC-167 - Security update.

    • Our thanks to Gaelan Steele for reporting this issue.

Version 1.6.1

Release Date: October 2023

This release of the AppsAnywhere Windows client requires AppsAnywhere server with patch AA-5085

Fixes

  • AA-5085 - Security update.

    • Our thanks to Gaelan Steele for reporting this issue.

  • AAMAC-167 - Security update.

    • Our thanks to Gaelan Steele for reporting this issue.

Version 2.0.0

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

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