Samsung Oreo Android Enterprise Work Profile Changes

Thought I would post on this as it could have the potential to cause headaches for enterprises with Android Samsung devices due to the variation in end user experiences that are introduced.

As per the announcement here it would appear that Samsung have taken it upon themselves to provide a "unified" experience, combining their Knox Workspace solution with the Android Enterprise (AE) Work profile. These changes take effect as of the Oreo operating system. I felt that the previous article explained this poorly and my perception was that this would simply be an experience that was "available". Any extra security features that could be leveraged within the Knox Workspace as far as I am aware are not currently supported within Intune so I intended on waiting before deciding on whether we switch to Workspaces as a business.

So I completely misunderstood this and was directed to here which does indicate that this unification is a forced change

This means that if you are running Samsung devices within your enterprise you could see 3 different experiences in your environment at one time;

1. Pre-Oreo

The Workspace is not unified and you will see the standard AE Work Profile experience;

2. Oreo upgrade

This is for a device which already has an AE profile and is upgraded to Oreo. Any existing shortcuts will have an orange key badge;

Note that you can see as of Oreo the Gmail app now has an improved experience for showing unread email notifications;

Also the content for notifications is hidden both within the lock screen and home screen;

The only setting available within Intune turns this feature off therefore it needs to be configured on every device;

Open the "Workspace Settings" App

Notifications and Data > Turn on "Show notification content"

Notifications on lock screen > Show notification content

3. Oreo new enrollment

This gives the new unified experience. Initially, badged apps will only be available by accessing the Workspace directly and you will not be able to add them from there to the home screen;

In order to be able to add these apps to the home screen you will need to do the following;

Access the Workspace settings from within the "more options" menu in the top right of the Workspace;

Workspace style > Turn off  "Hide Workspace apps"

As with the previous experience you will also need to follow the steps to show home screen and lock screen notifications if that is a requirement. Staying in the same menu;

Notifications and data > Turn on "Show notification content"

Notifications on lock screen > Show notification content