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  5. BlackBerry AtHoc desktop app for Mac

BlackBerry AtHoc
 desktop app for Mac

What’s new in this release?

Each release consists of new and enhanced features and resolved and known issues in the
BlackBerry AtHoc
 desktop app. The following sections provide an overview of these changes for each release.

2.5 - October 2022

  • Defer to Self Service authentication
    : The Defer to Self Service authentication method was added with the following available options:
    • Username and Password
    • Windows Authentication
    • Smart Card
    • Single Sign-On

2.4.1 - March 2022

  • Packaging utility update
    : The packaging utility for the Mac desktop client was updated to support Apple Silicon CPU architectures and the latest macOS releases including macOS 12 Monterey, macOS 11 Big Sur, and macOS 10.15 Catalina.

2.4

  • Safari permissions
    : Safari no longer requests permission to access web pages when the URLs are launched from the desktop app menu.

2.3

  • Source code and build modifications
    : The
    BlackBerry AtHoc
     desktop app was updated to use a different source code management system and to support updated branding.

2.2

  • Smart card authentication
    : The following changes were made to address smart card authentication issues with macOS:
    • The
      BlackBerry AtHoc
       desktop app supports external PIV/CAC cards to connect users to the
      BlackBerry AtHoc
       management system. The desktop app can now read and use the certificates in a physical PIV/CAC card to obtain user information and use that information to authenticate with
      BlackBerry AtHoc
      . When the authentication type is set to Smart Card Authentication, user certificates do not need to be available in the macOS device keychain. The desktop app can read the certificates when a PIV/CAC card is inserted in a physical laptop.
    • The  desktop app can now read certificates without a private key installed in the keychain for smart card authentication.

2.1

  • Section 508 compliance
    : The following section 508 compliance improvements were made:
    • Keyboard navigation
    • Color contrast
    • Screen reader capabilities

2.0

  • Apple Notarization
    : Support for the Apple Notarization service was added. The Apple notarization service automatically scans the desktop software for malicious content or components.
  • Support for macOS Catalina
    : Support for macOS Catalina was added.

1.9.0

  • Installation warning workaround on macOS Catalina
    : When attempting to install the Mac client installer package while running macOS Catalina, a dialog with the following error appears: "AtHoc ADC Installer_signed.pkg  can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software." To work around this issue and continue with the installation, right-click the installer package and select
    Open with
     >
    Installer.app (default)
    .
  • Client certificate handling
    : The desktop app was updated to ignore any trailing characters in a certificate format by using a client regular expression. The client regular expression can be configured in the
    BlackBerry AtHoc
     management system. For more information, see "Assign authentication methods to applications" in the
    BlackBerry AtHoc
     Desktop App Installation and Configuration Guide
    .
  • Session limit
    : The session limit per user has been restricted to ten sessions. If a user reaches the maximum number of allowed sessions, the following error is displayed: The max limit of sessions has be reached. Release other desktop sessions to create new one.

1.8.0

  • MacOS Mojave
    : Support for MacOS Mojave was added.

1.7.0

Map image in alerts
: If an alert template includes a map, an image of the map is included in desktop alerts. All out of the box desktop delivery templates include a map. The map is included in the delivered alert if the following conditions are met:
  • Your
    BlackBerry AtHoc
     system has this feature enabled for the given organization.
  • Desktop or email is targeted.
  • An out of the box delivery template or a new custom delivery template is used.
  • The map is present in the alert.
The map that is included in an email or desktop alert is not interactive. The alert recipient cannot zoom in or out on the map. Clicking on the map image opens the alert recipient's Self Service Inbox. Any map objects defined in the publisher map are included in the map image in a zoom-to-fit fashion.
Alerts sent through the
BlackBerry AtHoc
 management system, the SDK publisher, Integrated Weather Alerts, and Connect can include a map image.
Support for PSS cloud server version 2.9.12
: The latest desktop client is required if you are connecting to a regionalized PSS system.

1.6.0

Remove or retain previous settings
: In Mac Version 1.5.0, when customers migrated to a different organization or server the Mac client did not accept the new settings packaged with the installer. In Mac Version 1.6.0, a configuration option was added when creating the Mac clients to clear out or retain all old settings. If a customer is pointing the Mac client to a new environment, they should choose the option to clear all old settings.
BlackBerry AtHoc rebranding and logos
: In Mac Version 1.6.0, the Desktop App logo was updated to a new
BlackBerry AtHoc
 logo. User interface strings were also updated from "IWSAlerts" to "
BlackBerry AtHoc
" or "
AtHoc
."

1.5.0

Support for sign-on with an LDAP attribute
: In previous MacOS releases, customers could choose to have the desktop client automatically connect to
AtHoc
 by username. In Windows release 6.2.x.270, support for sign-on with an LDAP attribute was introduced. Mac version 1.5.0 introduces single sign-on with an LDAP attribute parity with Windows.
Prerequisite
MacOS must be connected to a domain, and the user must sign in with a network account before sign-on with an LDAP attribute can be used.
To use the single sign-on feature, Administrators must complete the following steps.
For
BlackBerry AtHoc
 Release 7.5 or later release:
  1. Navigate to the
    Settings
     screen in the BlackBerry AtHoc management system.
  2. In the
    Users
     section, click
    User authentication
    .
  3. On the
    User Authentication
     window, in the
    Enabled Authentication Methods
     section, select the
    LDAP Attribute
     check box.
  4. Click
    Save
    .
For
BlackBerry AtHoc
 Release 7.4 or earlier release:
  1. Navigate to the
    Settings
     screen in the
    BlackBerry AtHoc
     management system.
  2. In the
    Basic
     section, click
    Organization Settings
    .
  3. On the
    Organization Settings
     screen, click the
    User Authentication & SDK
     tab.
  4. In the
    Desktop Software Authentication
     field, select
    Auto Login
    , and then select
    Use LDAP attribute
    .
  5. In the text-entry field below the
    Use LDAP attribute
     option, enter the Active Directory attribute you want clients to use for authentication. For example, mail.
  6. Click
    Save
    .
When the client starts, it receives directions from the server about the LDAP attribute to use. The client then queries Active Directory for the value of that attribute for the local user. In order for the client to query Active Directory, users must have at least read-only permission to their Active Directory. The client then sends the value of the designated attribute to the server. The server then searches for a user by matching the value of the designated attribute against the Mapping ID field. If a match is made, the client is connected to the user record in the system and the user can then receive the alerts that are targeted to them.
Notes
  • If the LDAP attribute values have not been synchronized into the mappingID field, or if the value is not matched to an existing user in
    AtHoc
    , a new user is created.
  • If the client cannot query Active Directory, it waits until it can. The client also caches the designated attribute and uses the cached version if the lookup fails.
Support for sign-on with domain/username
: Before the Mac 1.5.0 release, the Mac client did not recognize if it was connected to a domain. The Mac client would create user accounts with no domain name. For example, /username. This caused issues in customer environments with both Windows and Mac clients. The server could incorrectly create multiple user accounts in
BlackBerry AtHoc
 for the same user, if that user logged in from both a Mac and a Windows client. Additionally, the server could not differentiate between two users with the same username used in two different domains.
Prerequisite
MacOS must be connected to a domain, and the user must sign in with a network account before sign-on with domain/username can be used.

1.4.0

Mac Client 1.4.0 is compatible with IWS 87CP1 and above.
  • Support for localized versions of
    BlackBerry AtHoc
    : The nine supported languages and locales are English (US), English (UK), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), French (France), French (Canada), Dutch (Netherlands), German (Germany), and Italian (Italy).
  • BlackBerry AtHoc
     can now be installed on non-English versions of Mac.
  • Support for macOS Sierra version 10.12 and OS X 10.11 El Capitan.
  • Support for Dark Mode
    :
    BlackBerry AtHoc
     icons change when the user is in Dark Mode
  • Support for operation by way of a proxy server
  • Support for OS X 10.9 Mavericks was removed.

1.3.0

Mac Client 1.3.0 is compatible with IWS 6.1.8.85R3SP1 and above.
  • Support for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and OS X 10.9 Mavericks
  • Support for Client Manual Registration through organization code
  • Support for smooth client upgrade
  • A welcome message to the new user upon new client registration
  • Bug fixes

1.2.0

  • Support for CAC

1.1.0

  • Support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
  • Full-screen pop-up
  • End of support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

1.0

  • Support for Mac OS X 10.4.11+ Tiger
  • Support for Mac OS X 10.5.5+ Leopard
  • Support for Intel or PowerPC processors