The next Knox cloud service release is scheduled for March 26th, 2022. This release is expected to include new product features and changes that aim to improve product usability in the Knox ecosystem. During the release process, SamsungKnox.com will continue to be available. The Knox Admin Portal and the Knox product consoles themselves will undergo planned downtime for maintenance.
Keep in mind that these pre-release notes include future feature commitments and other information that may change leading up to the actual release.
Overview
With the upcoming release, the common services, Knox products, and Knox programs will all see improvements and enhancements from a user experience and functionality standpoint. This post covers the new features and changes to existing features that will apply to your Knox products and services.
Knox cloud services planned downtime
For the 22.03 release, the availability of Knox cloud services will be subject to a brief downtime period, which might impact your usage. To minimize impact to your business, the upgrade is scheduled on the weekend of the release, starting at this time:
- Saturday, March 26th, 2022 at 16:00 PDT
- Sunday, March 27th, 2022 at 00:00 GMT
- Sunday, March 27th, 2022 at 08:00 KST
For the specific maintenance start and end times for each Knox cloud service, see Downtime planned due to major upgrade to Knox cloud services on the Samsung Knox blog.
Policy update for supported Android versions
Starting with 22.03, Knox products will support a range of Android versions that starts from the current version and goes back five previous major versions. For more details about each product's minimum supported Android version, see Policy update on Knox supported versions on the Samsung Knox blog.
Expected changes to common services
The following table summarizes the key changes that will affect the entire Knox ecosystem.
| Service |
Changes |
| SamsungKnox.com |
- Knox solution wizard on homepage — Add a new solution wizard to help quickly and easily find the right Samsung Knox product for your needs. After answering a few questions about your role and desired features, the solution wizard generates a list of recommended Knox solutions and services based on your answers.
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| Knox Admin Portal |
- Admin and role management across services
- Add the ability to access the full admin list in a single view from a newly consolidated Admin & Role menu.
- Add the ability to invite secondary admins with different roles to multiple services at once.
- Global device search — Add a Device search bar, that allows you to inspect device-related information linked to multiple services in a single view.
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Expected changes to Knox products
The following table summarizes the key changes to Knox products that will go live with the upcoming release.
| Service |
Changes |
| Knox Mobile Enrollment |
- Changes to enrollment of company-owned devices with a work profile.
- Currently, when a company-owned device is enrolled with a work profile, the setup wizard allows the device user to create a personal profile after enrollment.
- Make the enrollment process skip the setup wizard by default. If your enterprise requires the setup wizard, this gives you the option to re-enable it in your Knox Mobile Enrollment profile.
- Expansion of DualDAR compatibility — Add DualDAR support for fully managed Samsung Galaxy devices, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S22.
|
| Knox Manage |
- Android Management API for devices with Work Profiles — Add support for enrolling work profile devices in Knox Manage through the Android Management API, which uses the Android Device Policy app rather than the Knox Manage agent.
- Managed Google Play app auto-update modes — Add the option to prioritize Managed Google Play app updates, or postpone their updates for 90 days.
- Improvements to Managed Google Play apps
- Rework managed configuration menu to improve usability.
- Add buttons for syncing app feedback, and add alerts for the feedback.
- Integration with Check Point Software Harmony Mobile — Enable enterprises to monitor and block threats with Harmony Mobile in conjunction with Knox Manage.
- General availability of Chromebook management — Make Chromebook management available to all Knox Manage tenants, including Chrome OS profiles and managed web apps.
- Support for Shared iPad — Add support for Shared iPad, which allows multiple device users to sign in to the same iPad and enjoy a personalized experience.
- Support for Windows 11 — Support devices running Windows 11 21H2 and higher.
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| Knox E-FOTA |
- Role customization — Give you the ability to create, edit, and delete roles, and add desired permissions to each role as needed. Also, set admins with certain permissions within a customized role.
- License auto-assignment — When the Knox E-FOTA client is enrolled, assign the license key to the device automatically, which removes the need to manage license keys per device.
- Device log refresh — Add the ability to refresh device logs and provide the latest information available.
|
| Knox Asset Intelligence |
- Device grouping feature
- Add the ability to assign and manage devices in groups by using EMM group IDs or by uploading a CSV file to the console. Device groups let you identify Wi-Fi, app, battery, and scan performance issues more efficiently.
- Add the ability to send Today’s Issue Report emails to select IT admins based on device groups.
- Enhancements to app insights
- Add the ability to set an app list and filter data to focus only on usage and stability insights for managed apps.
- Add features for viewing usage graphs for a single app and export data on daily app usage to a CSV file.
- Device status improvements
- Add a new Active device sub-status under the existing Enrolled status.
- In the event of an enrollment failure, place the failure reason in the device’s details as a Failed to enroll event.
- Location permission status for select devices — On the Devices page, add the option to view whether the user of an Android 12 or higher devices has manually granted location permissions to the KAI agent in the work profile. If not, Wi-Fi and location data isn't collected for that device. Also, add an option to send the user a reminder to grant the permissions.
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| Knox Configure |
- Knox Configure Accessories — Allow for automatically-applied profiles when the device is paired with an NFC accessory, such as a phone case, independent of the Reseller Portal upload status.
- Knox Configure Routines expansion — Add the ability to apply automated actions (Then conditions) triggered by certain situations (If conditions). For example, if a device connects to a specific SSID, then its camera is disabled and the screen is set to time out after a set period.
- Samsung Kids configuration support for Android 12
- Add a tablet layout on Android 12 devices with an app grid up to 3 rows by 5 columns.
- Add an option to enable or disable the Content page, which displays the partner apps within the Samsung Kids app.
- Changes to maximum digits of Custom IDs — Increase Custom ID length to 50 digits.
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| Knox Guard |
- Improvements to device lock based on IMSI change — Adjust behavior so that if the IMSI changes after a different SIM card is inserted, Knox Guard no longer checks whether the mobile country code (MCC) or mobile network code (MNC) is allowlisted before locking the device.
- Knox Guard console dashboard improvements — Provide lock status information for each device at a glance.
- Bulk customization notifications — Add the ability to send custom messages to devices in bulk. Add it to the API at /kcs/v1.1/kg/devices/customMessageAsync
- Device lock and wipe — Allow IT admins to lock and wipe the contents of a missing or stolen device. In order for a customer to use these respective features, they must have the Device lock or Wipeout devices permissions.
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| Samsung Care+ for Business |
- Option to unassign devices with Active pending status (India and Philippines only) — Add an Unassign button to the device menu to cancel the service registration of devices with the Active pending status.
- Error message improvements — If an error occurs when assigning a license, make the error message explain the cause in detail and provide guidelines for a solution.
- Claim status improvements — Show detailed claim statuses of either open, in-progress, or complete on the License page.
- Skip T&C agreement process (Taiwan only) — Hide the step to agree T&C when entering a license.
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Expected changes to the Knox Deployment Program
The following table summarizes the key changes to the Knox Deployment Program that will go live with the upcoming release.
| Service |
Changes |
| Knox Deployment Program |
- Direct device upload using MSP ID — Enable you to directly upload devices to an MSP using their MSP ID on the Reseller Portal.
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Expected changes to the Knox MSP Program
The following table summarizes the key changes to the Knox MSP Program that will go live with the upcoming release.
| Service |
Changes |
| Knox MSP Program |
- Knox Platform for Enterprise license generation — Enable you to generate Knox Platform for Enterprise licenses on behalf of fully managed customers.
- Knox Manage tenant creation — Give you the ability to create a new Knox Manage tenant when migrating existing customers that do not currently have a Knox Manage tenant.
- Central control of device assignments — Enable resellers to upload devices to the Knox MSP Portal. From there, you can move those devices to any fully managed customer, allowing complete control of device assignments.
- Support information can be updated — Let super admins update the support email address and phone number shown to customers.
- Revised Knox MSP Program T&Cs — Add a section on Product Life, and more clearly defined the terms in the T&C.
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