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Apple Business Essentials

Apple Business Essentials
Formerly Fleetsmith

Overview

What is Apple Business Essentials?

Apple Business Essentials is a subscription service that brings together device management, 24/7 support, and cloud storage. It enables small business to manage every iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TVs throughout the business.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Fleetsmith is a powerful tool that has proven to be invaluable for companies and organizations looking to efficiently manage their Mac …
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TrustRadius Insights
TrustRadius Insights

On Fleet.

8 out of 10
September 11, 2019
Incentivized
We are using Fleetsmith to inventory and manage Mac devices for our company and clients. It's used across the whole organization and …
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Fleetsmith

10 out of 10
September 08, 2019
We use Fleetsmith to manage our corporate Mac OS fleet, pushing software patches and configuration to our whole company, enforcing …
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So So

2 out of 10
September 08, 2019
We use Fleetsmith to remotely manage all of our iOS devices. As any MDM this helps us easily manage all of our mobile devices in one …
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Great fit for our company

6 out of 10
September 04, 2019
I am the account holder and manager for our Fleetsmith account (Operations Team). We use Fleetsmith primarily for its ability to wipe …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

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Pricing

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Fleetsmith Managed

$8.25

Cloud
per device, per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttp://www.fleetsmith.com/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Details

What is Apple Business Essentials?

Apple Business Essentials is a subscription service that brings together device management, 24/7 support, and cloud storage. It enables small business to manage every iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TVs throughout the business.

It includes the functionality of the former Fleetsmith, a cloud management solution for Apple devices. In June 2020, Fleetsmith was acquired by Apple, and then discontinued in October of 2022 to make way for Apple Business Essentials, which was launched to the public at the end of 2021 in beta, and is now the company's flagship device management solution going forward.

Apple Business Essentials Features

  • Supported: Zero-touch deployment: Local user account, DEP, apps and settings
  • Supported: Automatic OS upgrades and enforcement
  • Supported: Set-and-forget deployment, configuration & enforcement for 70+ apps
  • Supported: Smart inventory
  • Supported: Fully-automated patch management
  • Supported: FileVault 2 Encryption with automatic key escrow
  • Supported: Kernel Extension Whitelisting
  • Supported: TCC/PPPC Whitelisting
  • Supported: Custom script deployment
  • Supported: Kernel-level binary blacklisting
  • Supported: WiFi, VPN and printer deployment

Apple Business Essentials Competitors

Apple Business Essentials Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported LanguagesEnglish

Frequently Asked Questions

Apple Business Essentials is a subscription service that brings together device management, 24/7 support, and cloud storage. It enables small business to manage every iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TVs throughout the business.

Jamf Pro, Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), and Addigy are common alternatives for Apple Business Essentials.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 8.8.

The most common users of Apple Business Essentials are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).

Apple Business Essentials Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)30%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)60%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)10%
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(23)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Fleetsmith is a powerful tool that has proven to be invaluable for companies and organizations looking to efficiently manage their Mac devices. Users have praised its ability to automate inventory and management tasks, saving valuable time and resources. With Fleetsmith, non-technical users can easily configure workstations without the need for extensive tinkering. This user-friendly approach makes it an ideal solution for businesses striving for workplace flexibility. Additionally, Fleetsmith's robust reporting capabilities provide comprehensive information on encryption status, allowing companies to ensure the safety and security of their devices.

One of the standout features of Fleetsmith is its integration with G Suite, which has been particularly helpful in educational settings. Teachers switching between classrooms can effortlessly log in to classroom computers, thanks to this seamless integration. Fleetsmith also excels when it comes to meeting compliance requirements and maintaining certifications such as HITRUST. It enables organizations to control, manage, secure, and track Macs across the entire company or organization.

Overall, users appreciate Fleetsmith for its niche product offering and evolving features. It offers a single-pane-of-glass interface that makes managing Apple products a breeze. From deploying globally and managing remote and local MacBooks to providing confidence in company-issued laptops through easy deployment, updates, productivity enhancements, and compliance gains, Fleetsmith proves its worth by solving various challenges faced by businesses of all sizes.

Intuitive and Easy to Navigate: Reviewers have consistently praised Fleetsmith for its intuitive user interface and easy navigation. Several users have stated that compared to other solutions, Fleetsmith stands out as a user-friendly option.

Convenient DEP Enrollment: The DEP Enrollment feature of Fleetsmith has received high praise from multiple reviewers. Users appreciate the convenience it offers in setting up passwords for users and granting immediate access when they turn on their computers.

Simple Software Deployment: Many reviewers have commended Fleetsmith for its ease of adding software to be pushed out. They have found this process to be straightforward, highlighting the simplicity of deploying software using Fleetsmith's platform.

Limited software options: Some users have expressed frustration with the limited list of native software that can be deployed, preventing them from using custom software. Clients feel restricted by the lack of flexibility in choosing and utilizing the applications they need for their specific requirements.

Reporting capabilities dissatisfaction: Many customers have voiced their dissatisfaction with the reporting capabilities of the software. They find the current reporting features to be lacking in terms of generating comprehensive and meaningful insights from device data, which hinders their ability to make informed decisions and track important metrics.

Unclear issue communication and configuration limitations: Users have found it difficult to achieve desired configurations due to unclear communication about the issues. This lack of clarity leads to confusion and delays in resolving problems. Additionally, some reviewers have mentioned that they are unable to determine what actions the software is taking on managed devices, resulting in uncertainty about its functionality and effectiveness in performing necessary tasks.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-21 of 21)
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December 16, 2019

An Awesome Product from an Awesome Company

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Non-profit Organization Management Company, 201-500 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
I'm happy with the services I have received from Fleetsmith. I think anyone with an extensive Apple fleet will be happy with them as well. My only real beef is how many editions of iOS they are willing to support. I can see their reason, but older gen stuff still needs management too.
September 11, 2019

On Fleet.

AV
Andrew Vo
Director of Operations
Jones IT (Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Fleetsmith is well suited for companies with a lot of Macs, Mac minis, Apple tvs, etc., that are all over the place (different offices, states, countries, floors, remote employees, etc). It makes the management of these central where it would be almost impossible otherwise.
September 08, 2019

Fleetsmith

Verified User
C-Level Executive in Engineering
Financial Services Company, 11-50 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
We run a Mac OS and Linux estate and Fleetsmith is an Apple-centric solution. This is perfect for us, but a cross-OS solution may better suit a company with a more diverse set of user machines
August 20, 2019

Managing Macs at a distance with Fleetsmith

Pax Whitfield | TrustRadius Reviewer
Pax Whitfield
Chief Technology Officer
Winston Preparatory School (Education Management, 201-500 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Fleetsmith is best for newly purchased machines being given to a single user. Excellent for portable computers. It's not as well suited to shared machines, computer lab or kiosk type scenarios, etc. Fleetsmith doesn't really manage iOS or tvOS, either, but if they added this functionality in a competitive way, we have a fleet of both that I'd consider moving!
August 17, 2019

My Fleetsmith experience

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Financial Services Company, 51-200 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
For an organization that does not have Active Directory services, and those that encourage staff to bring their own device to the company for work. It is not suited for those organization with an Windows environment though.
August 17, 2019

Great MDM solution with painless integration between G Suite, Apple and your devices

Verified User
Manager in Engineering
Retail Company, 11-50 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
  • Fantastic for managing a fleet of Apple devices in the SMB/SME space where we are. I can't speak to larger scale operations but if you want to deploy devices for 1-100 people, it would be hard to make it faster and easier than it is with Fleetsmith.
  • If you need very granular or shared profiles for devices that can be combined, I don't think this is a capability and might be something nice for future if people want modular permissions and profiles.
August 09, 2019

Happy Fleetsmith Customer!

AN
Alex Ng
Director, Infrastructure and DevOps
Manifold (Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
For startups that need to manage Macs and are not ready for their first IT FTE this is a great product. I'm not a traditional IT person but Fleetsmith has helped me manage the laptops at our company effectively. When we are big enough to hire a full time IT manager Fleetsmith has us set up nicely to scale rapidly.

Shout out to Dave Vega who was our account manager until recently. In the beginning, Dave took the time to understand our needs and explain where Fleetsmith would fit or not fit. He was always responsive for account questions and he would also help with technical questions as well. Dave was never overly pushy on anything and genuinely wanted to make sure Fleetsmith was serving the current needs of Manifold. Thanks, Dave!
August 09, 2019

Friendly, unobtrusive mobile device management

Steve Huff | TrustRadius Reviewer
Steve Huff
Engineer in Engineering
vecna.org (Computer Software, 1-10 employees)
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
My sense is that Fleetsmith is a good fit for use cases where the organization is already invested in G Suite as a directory service, and where best-effort configuration management is acceptable. I don’t know that I would trust Fleetsmith in an environment where strict compliance was of paramount importance; Fleetsmith’s design seems to be to choose to “fail open” rather than “fail closed”.
August 09, 2019

Fleetsmith is Solid Software for Growing Startups

James Villarrubia | TrustRadius Reviewer
James Villarrubia
CTO
Werk Inc. (Human Resources, 11-50 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
For any Apple-based small-to-mid-size business, Fleetsmith is my go-to recommendation. Not sure if the interface will scale well with 300+ devices or users, so larger 100+ person organizations might want to investigate more thoroughly. Fleetsmith's team will always take feedback and answer questions, so if you're on the fence - definitely give it a go.
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