These are the release notes for Sophos Mobile version 8.6.
For improvements and new features in Sophos Mobile, see Sophos knowledge base article 132302.
| Product | Version |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Windows Server | 2012 (64-bit) |
| 2012 R2 (64-bit) | |
| 2016 (64-bit) |
| Product | Version |
|---|---|
| Oracle Java JDK | The version included in the Sophos Mobile installer (8u181). |
| Product | Version |
|---|---|
| Microsoft SQL Server | 2012 SP3 (64-bit) |
| 2014 SP2 (64-bit) | |
| 2014 SP2 Express | |
| 2016 SP1 (64-bit) | |
| 2017 (64-bit) | |
| MySQL | 5.6 |
| Product | Version |
|---|---|
| Android | 5.x |
| 6.x | |
| 7.x | |
| 8.x | |
| 9.x | |
| Android Things (project-based) | 1.0, on Raspberry Pi 3 |
| iOS | 10.x |
| 11.x | |
| 12.x | |
| macOS | OS X El Capitan (10.11.x) |
| macOS Sierra (10.12.x) | |
| macOS High Sierra (10.13.x) | |
| macOS Mojave (10.14.x) | |
| Windows | Windows 10 version 1511 or later, editions Pro, Enterprise, Education, Home, or S mode |
| Windows Phone | 8.1 |
| Windows Mobile | Windows 10, editions Mobile, Mobile Enterprise |
| Windows IoT (project-based) | Windows 10 IoT Core (Build 16299), on Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 |
The Sophos Mobile Admin and Self Service Portal web consoles support the following web browsers.
| Product | Version |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Internet Explorer | 11 |
| Microsoft Edge | 38 |
| Mozilla Firefox | 62 or later |
| Google Chrome | 69 or later |
| Product | Version |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Active Directory | The version provided by the Windows Server operating system. Lightweight Domain Services (AD LDS) are not supported. |
| Zimbra OpenLDAP | The version provided by the Zimbra email system. |
| NetIQ eDirectory | 8.8 SP6 |
| IBM Domino | 8.5.3 |
| 389 Directory Server (open source variant of the Red Hat Directory Server) | 1.3 |
| Google Cloud Directory | Secure LDAP in Cloud Identity. |
| Product | Version |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Exchange | 2013 |
| 2016 | |
| Office 365 | |
| Lotus Domino Traveler | 9.0 |
| Zimbra | 8.0 |
| Product | Version |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Windows Server | 2012 with latest service pack |
| 2012 R2 with latest service pack | |
| 2016 with latest service pack |
For details on installing the Sophos Mobile server, see the Sophos Mobile installation guide.
For details on enrolling end user devices with Sophos Mobile using the Sophos Mobile Self Service Portal, see the Sophos Mobile user help.
You can download the product documentation at www.sophos.com/en-us/support/documentation/sophos-mobile.aspx.
Sophos Mobile 8.6 comes with license reporting. For detailed information, see Sophos knowledge base article 120127.
By default, there are scheduled tasks that stop (at 4:00 am) and restart (at 4:05 am) the Sophos Mobile server. If you want to update Sophos Mobile during that period, disable these tasks before the update and re-enable them after the update is finished.
After changing the server URL using the Configuration Wizard you need to reactivate the Sophos Mobile standard license. To do this, go to , enter your standard license key in the input field and then click Activate.
You must restart Samsung devices with Knox Standard (formerly called SAFE) SDK version earlier than 5.4 after installing a Kiosk Mode profile. If you don’t, the user could stop all running apps in the task manager and switch to the default launcher home screen.
You can only apply the Knox premium restriction Prevent installation of another administrator app on a device, when there is no other device administrator app activated. If another device administrator app is already activated, the user has to first disable the device administrator for this app. (See also “This policy can only be applied if there are no other administrators activated” in the Samsung Knox documentation).
The App doze and Stand-by mode power saving features introduced with Android 6 can impact the receiving of Baidu push notifications.
Small apps are Sony specific apps on Sony devices that overlay existing apps. These apps can’t be controlled or protected by the Sophos Mobile Control app or by App Protection.
With the release of Android 7.0, Google removed the methods for resetting device passwords.
If an Exchange email account is transferred to an Android work profile, the account stays with the profile even if the policy is removed. You can send a policy containing another Email configuration to the device. The latest Email configuration is always used. However, it is not possible to remove the configuration from the work profile. If the configured account is removed, you must remove the whole Android work profile from the device.
Starting with Android 8, the installation of apps from unknown sources is not a device setting. It is a permission setting for apps that are able to install other apps. For example a file manager app. It isn’t possible for Sophos Mobile to check if any third-party app has this permission. The Apps from unknown sources compliance rule is ignored for devices running Android 8.
If Android enterprise is set up using the "Managed Google Play Account" scenario, devices can only be enrolled by scanning the QR code or by using the Configure app link from the enrollment email.
There is a known Android issue related to the work profile. Starting with Android 8, the Android internal WebView app isn’t enabled by default. As a result, apps in the work profile that rely on the WebView app may stop working. Google resolved this issue by enabling the Chrome app, which enables the internal WebView app. However, you might not want to allow a browser app in the work profile.
As a work around, use the App Control configuration of your Sophos Mobile Android enterprise policy to block the Chrome app.
For more information regarding this issue, see the Google article https://support.google.com/work/android/answer/7506908 (external link).
On some devices capable of Factory Reset Protection (FRP), we have noticed an “FRP is not supported error” when FRP is turned on using Sophos Mobile. This issue isn’t caused by Sophos Mobile.
Normally when you enroll an unencrypted device in Android enterprise device owner mode, the device is initially encrypted and then enrolled. On some devices (including Samsung devices using Android 6.x or earlier) the process stops after the encryption and the device remains unenrolled.
As a workaround, restart the enrollment after the device was encrypted.
On some devices (e.g. seen on a Samsung Galaxy A3) enrollment in Android enterprise device owner mode fails when the language of the Sophos NFC Provisioning app is set to Chinese.
As a workaround, use a different language.
Installing a recommended or required app via an iTunes link on an iOS device requires the use of Safari. If the use of Safari is restricted, recommended and required apps can’t be installed via an iTunes link.
In some cases the silent trigger sent by the Sophos Mobile server doesn’t result in an automatic background synchronization. The user can synchronize the app manually.
This is a rare issue. Sophos Secure Workspace becomes unmanaged after upgrading. This is caused by a problem with the Apple iOS mechanism used for managing the app. The managed settings are lost. Installing the profile again for the device in the Sophos Mobile admin console resolves the problem.
Updating an iOS Single App Mode profile doesn’t update all contained settings. The Disable… options are updated correctly. All other options only work on the first installation of the profile. To change these settings you need to remove and reinstall the profile. This is an issue in Apple iOS.
On some devices, users are able to uninstall apps even if the Allow app removal restriction is disabled in the iOS device profile. This is an issue in Apple iOS.
Sophos Mobile can only retrieve the MAC address of a Mac’s Wi-Fi network adapter, not that of its Ethernet adapter. For Network Access Control (NAC) devices are identified by their MAC address. A Mac connected to the network via its Ethernet adapter is treated as an unknown device when your external NAC software asks Sophos Mobile for the device’s network status.
Windows Phone devices running 8.1 versions earlier than GDR1 don’t use the Exchange account display name as configured. Instead, they just use a numbering scheme. This display issue does not affect the actual synchronization. Newer Windows Phone 8.1 versions use the name as configured.
The Password required compliance rule doesn’t work correctly for Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile devices if no passcode policy is enforced by Sophos Mobile. The devices don’t report a passcode being set if the user does this without being forced to by a policy. This is an issue in Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile.
The Encryption required compliance rule doesn’t work correctly for Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile devices if encryption isn’t enforced by an Sophos Mobile Restrictions policy. The devices don’t report a device to be encrypted if the user does this without being forced to by a policy. This is an issue in Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile.
The Windows Phone 8.1 restriction SafeSearch permission isn’t working correctly. Due to an issue in Windows Phone 8.1, the restriction is ignored on the device and defaults to “moderate”.
On devices that run Windows 10 Mobile, Sophos Mobile can’t check for compliance with the Data roaming allowed rule because the operating system doesn’t provide the Sophos Mobile Control app with the relevant information. When you forbid data roaming, a Windows 10 Mobile device with data roaming enabled is still reported as compliant.
In some cases, Windows Phone 8.1 devices ignore changes that you make to the IMAP/POP configuration of a Windows Mobile policy. To get around this issue, change the email configuration in two steps: First remove the IMAP/POP configuration from the profile, then make the required changes to the configuration and add it again.
Android devices are automatically enabled through the EAS proxy, if the device was enrolled through the Self Service Portal. If an administrator has added the device to Sophos Mobile, it is required to enter the sAMAccountName value in the respective property of the device details view to make ActiveSync synchronization possible. If devices are registered with an LDAP entry and SSP, this isn’t necessary (this only applies to Microsoft Active Directory). It’s also not necessary if the device's Active Sync ID is already known. That is the case when using Sophos Secure Email or Samsung Knox.
Internet Explorer may classify the Sophos Mobile Admin console as an intranet site. As a result, compatibility mode is activated by default which results in a corrupted view and erroneous behavior. To turn off this browser feature, clear the Display intranet sites in Compatibility View check box in the Compatibility View settings of Internet Explorer.
Exchange ActiveSync traffic without encryption (SSL/TLS) is no longer supported by the internal EAS proxy.
The deletion of customers with Apple DEP profiles configured fails. To delete those customers, you need to delete the Apple DEP profiles before deleting the customer.
When profiles are renamed, removal tasks may display the profile with the old name.
Installing root certificates as part of policies is always reported as successful. You should check the list of installed certificates in the device details.
Assigning empty policies to a Windows Mobile device doesn’t correctly update the installed policy details displayed in the web console. Instead, settings of previously applied policies might be shown.
The restriction for Copy & Paste on Windows 10 Mobile doesn’t work for some apps. Those apps still allow Copy & Paste actions.
In some cases, Windows 10 Desktop devices might be reported as compliant even if Windows Defender is disabled. This is because the compliance rule Defender activated can only check if the Defender service is running. It doesn’t check if real-time protection is enabled.
An Android profile that has been created by using the Duplicate command in an older version of Sophos Mobile can't be removed from devices using a task bundle.
Some Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 Desktop devices do not register correctly for the Windows Notification Service (WNS). There is a time out of their push registration after 30 days, and the devices fail to renew the registration automatically. Although the Sophos Mobile server enforces the renewal, some devices send the old, invalid push registration information to the Sophos Mobile server when they re-register. As a result, the Sophos Mobile server can't send push notifications to these devices to synchronize the built-in MDM agent. This is an issue in Windows 10.
If the system time of your Sophos Mobile server deviates by more than 15 minutes from accurate time, you will not be able to set up Android enterprise for your organization using the Managed Google Play Account scenario. This is because the Sophos service that manages Android enterprise communication classifies the request from your Sophos Mobile server as malicious and rejects it.
When configuring the external directory connection, Google Chrome automatically tries to fill in a saved user account. The field content is automatically removed and added again, and it’s not possible to configure the user credentials. Also, when configuring the SMTP tab for the super administrator, saved credentials are automatically inserted.
This issue is caused by a defect in Google Chrome 59. As a workaround, use a different browser to configure the external directory connection or the SMTP settings.
When you invite too many users to the Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) at once, Apple might reject further requests for a few minutes. If you are experiencing this issue, please reduce the number of users included in the invitation.
This issue will be fixed in a future version of Sophos Mobile.
If you use a self-signed SSL/TLS certificate for your Sophos Mobile sever, you can’t use Android zero-touch enrollment or Samsung Knox Mobile Enrollment. We suggest you use a certificate issued by a globally trusted certificate authority (CA) instead.
In some cases, you get an error “Text contains forbidden HTML elements” when you try to save SSP enrollment texts or system messages that contain HTML formatting, although the text you’ve entered is valid. This issue is caused by an error in the HTML parser library.
As a workaround, change the font size of underlined text and delete any “style” attributes.
If you’ve configured Self Service Portal enrollment for Windows computers, you must adjust the configuration after you’ve updated Sophos Mobile from version 8. In Sophos Mobile 8, the initial package is a policy while in Sophos Mobile 8.1 and later it is a task bundle.
For information on how to re-enable Self Service Portal enrollment for Windows computers, see the Sophos Mobile installation guide, section “Post-update tasks”.
You can get support in any of these ways:
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