Activation

Infrastructure and enterprise activation

After a BlackBerry Dynamics app is installed on a user’s device, the user must activate the app in order to use it. The activation process registers the app with the management server and gives the app access to the full capabilities of the BlackBerry Dynamics platform. The activation process ensures that all end users are fully authorized and permitted to use the app.

Users can activate a BlackBerry Dynamics app manually using an activation password, QR code, or access key provided by the administrator or obtained from UEM Self-Service, by using the UEM Client, through a third-party IDP, such as Active Directory or Okta, or by using the Easy Activation feature described below.

For more information about activating BlackBerry Dynamics apps, see the Activation section in the GDAndroid class reference or GDiOS class reference and Managing BlackBerry Dynamics apps in the UEM Administration content.

Easy Activation

Easy Activation simplifies the process of activating multiple BlackBerry Dynamics apps on a user’s device. With Easy Activation, a device user only needs to activate the first BlackBerry Dynamics app on their device; when the user installs additional BlackBerry Dynamics apps, the user can choose to delegate the activation process to the previously activated app. Any BlackBerry Dynamics app can be an activation delegate, but priority is given to the app that is configured as the authentication delegate.

Easy Activation is automatically enabled for all BlackBerry Dynamics apps that are produced by BlackBerry. To enable Easy Activation for your custom BlackBerry Dynamics app, the UEM administrator must specify the app package ID (Android) or bundle ID (iOS) in the BlackBerry Dynamics app settings in the management console. Contact your organization’s administrator to provide this information. For instructions for specifying the package ID or bundle ID for an app, see Manage settings for a BlackBerry Dynamics app in the UEM Administration content.

On the application side, Easy Activation is enabled by default by the BlackBerry Dynamics Runtime.

For more information, see the Easy Activation section in the BlackBerry Dynamics Security White Paper.

iOS user enrollment and DEP activation enhancements

The BlackBerry Dynamics SDK for iOS version 8.0 and later and UEM version 12.13 and later feature the following activation enhancements for iOS user enrollment and DEP:
  • MDM enrollment and the activation of BlackBerry Dynamics apps doesn’t require the UEM Client.
  • After a new device is enrolled on UEM, UEM prompts the user to install the BlackBerry Dynamics app that is configured as the authentication delegate (that app must be assigned to the user). When the user opens this app for the first time, it activates automatically. The user can then activate additional BlackBerry Dynamics apps using Easy Activation.

Programmatic activation

The programmatic activation feature enables a BlackBerry Dynamics app to activate without any user interaction and without displaying activation prompts or progress screens. This can be useful when targeting your apps to a consumer audience or for developing apps for devices that have limited or no means of user input.

For more information about programmatic activation, see programmaticActivityInit in the BlackBerry Dynamics SDK for Android API Reference or programmaticAuthorize in the BlackBerry Dynamics SDK for iOS API Reference.

Note the following implementation details:
  • Decide whether you want users to specify a password to unlock a BlackBerry Dynamics app after the initial activation. You can use programmatic activation while still requiring users to type a password to unlock the app. This setting is configured in a BlackBerry Dynamics profile in UEM.
  • To activate the app, your application server must use the BlackBerry Web Services REST APIs to retrieve the user credentials and to generate an access key. You may need to create a new UEM user account or to lookup an existing user account. See the User resource in the BlackBerry Web Services REST API reference for the available REST APIs that can be used to create a user, lookup a user, and to generate an access key.
  • Pass the user credentials to the app and call programmaticActivityInit or programmaticAuthorize with the retrieved credentials, setting ShowUserInterface to false.
  • For Android, receive the broadcast event GD_STATE_ACTIVATION_ACTION to track activation progress from NotActivated to InProgress to Activated. You can choose to display a progress indicator during this short period.
  • For iOS, observe GDState.BBActivationState to track activation progress from NotActivated to InProgress to Activated. You can choose to display a progress indicator during this short period.
  • Once activation completes, the user is prompted to set a password (unless you’ve configured the BlackBerry Dynamics profile to not require a password). The app should wait for the GD_STATE_AUTHORIZED_ACTION notification.
  • You can use configureUI (Android/iOS) to customize the UI of the password screen (for example, with a custom logo and colors).