Cannot silently install an iOS App Store app on one iPhone without VPP licenseSolved

Hi @laura123,

For silent installation of an iOS App Store app through Hexnode, the app must be available as an Apple VPP app with an assigned license. If the app is added only as a regular App Store app and no VPP license is available, iOS will simply not allow Hexnode to install it silently on the device—it will instead prompt the end user to approve the installation manually.

To push the VPP app to just one iPhone without adding it to a global policy, you have two options:

1. Remote Action: You can push it directly by going to your device list, selecting the iPhone, and using the Actions > Applications > Install Application remote action. However, please note that this is a one-time action. If the app is subsequently removed from the device, it will not reinstall itself automatically.
2. Targeted Policy: You can create a policy with the app added under Required Apps and associate it only with that specific iPhone. Unlike the remote action, this ensures the app will automatically reinstall if it is ever removed.

For either method, here is the recommended approach to obtain the silent installation capabilities:

1. Purchase or acquire the app license from Apple Business Manager under Apps and Books.
2. Sync the VPP app licenses with Hexnode.
3. Add the VPP version of the app to Hexnode.
4. Deploy the app using either the remote action or a targeted policy.

Before you deploy, also check whether an app allowlist policy is applied to the iPhone. If an allowlist is configured and the app is not included in it, the installation may fail or the app may be blocked.

Please let us know if you need any help syncing the licenses from your portal!

Best regards,
Eden Pierce,
Hexnode UEM

I checked and there isn’t any app allowlist configured on that device. so using the install application remote action with the vpp license is definitely what I needed. Appreciate it, working fine now.