purplegreen MDM is being prepared for its first pilot. These pages describe the development release.
Remote actions
Where: the device page has an actions bar with Reboot, Lock, Clear app data, Change profile, Move to site, Retire (or Reactivate for a retired tablet), and a Danger menu with the two wipes and Force remove record. You only see the buttons you may use for that tablet's site. Each action opens a dialog that says what will happen and asks for what it needs (a profile, a site, app names); destructive ones also ask you to type the tablet's name. After you confirm, the dialog shows the command's status as it changes (every 3 seconds, for up to 12 minutes), and the device page lists the tablet's commands. The two wipe choices have their own page: The two wipe choices.
What each action does
| Action | What happens | Who may run it | Works on tablets that are |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reboot | The tablet restarts (Android 7 and later) | Owners, admins, site managers (own sites) | Active or retired |
| Lock | The screen locks | Owners, admins, site managers (own sites) | Active or retired |
| Clear app data | The kiosk app's data is cleared, or the apps you name (Android 9 and later); not possible until the tablet has reported its kiosk app | Owners, admins, site managers (own sites) | Active or retired |
| Change profile | The tablet gets its own profile instead of the site's (or back to the site's) | Owners, admins, site managers (own sites) | Pre-registered, enrolling, active or retired |
| Move to site | The tablet moves to another site and gets that site's profile and Wi-Fi; also fixes "Needs site" | Owners, admins, site managers (both sites theirs) | Pre-registered, enrolling, active or retired |
| Retire | The tablet stays enrolled but leaves service: no alerts, listed separately, optionally with a retirement profile (for example a clock) | Owners, admins, site managers (own sites) | Active |
| Reactivate | A retired tablet returns to service; its earlier profile comes back unless someone chose one by hand meanwhile | Owners, admins, site managers (own sites) | Retired |
| Wipe: lost or stolen / release to owner | See The two wipe choices | Owners, admins, site managers (own sites) | Enrolling, active or retired |
| Force remove | Deletes a tablet that will never come back from our records and from Google; refused while the tablet is online (wipe it instead); a removed tablet that comes back wipes itself and keeps factory reset protection | Owners and admins | Any, except already removed |
Read-only members cannot run actions. Retired tablets still count against the Google device quota.
Several tablets at once
Owners and admins can run reboot, lock, clear app data, change profile, move to site, retire and both wipes on several tablets: on the devices page tick tablets (or select all on the page, or everything matching the current filter: site, lifecycle, tag, compliance, online, text), then choose the action in the bulk bar (bulk wipes also need the wipe permission). The dialog shows how many of the selected tablets the action applies to; up to 1000 tablets. The Bulk actions page (in the navigation for owners and admins) lists them; each one shows its progress, refreshing every 5 seconds while it runs. Only tablets whose state allows the action are included, and the list is fixed when you start. Commands that have not been sent yet can be cancelled; ones already sent still finish.
Limits: 60 single actions and 10 bulk actions per person per minute.
What the statuses mean
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Queued | Recorded, waiting to be sent to Google |
| Sent | Google has it and passes it to the tablet when it is online |
| Succeeded | The tablet carried it out (or, for local actions such as change profile, our change is done) |
| Failed | It did not work; the reason is shown, for example the tablet no longer exists at Google. "Outcome unknown" means the request broke off midway and the tablet may or may not have received it: it is never sent again automatically, and the tablet is flagged for attention, so check it and repeat the action if needed |
| Expired | No answer from the tablet in time (10 minutes for most actions, 90 days for a wipe), or it could not be sent within an hour. A late answer from the tablet still updates it. |
| Cancelled | Cancelled in a bulk action before it was sent |
A wipe that is "Sent" reads "waiting for the tablet to come online". For change profile, move to site, retire and reactivate, "Failed" with "policy assignment failed" means the change itself was saved, but the tablet could not be given its new policy yet; it is retried automatically.
Every action is recorded in the audit log and on the tablet's timeline.