TrustRadius Insights
Fleetsmith is a powerful tool that has proven to be invaluable for companies and organizations looking to efficiently manage their Mac …
Starting at $8.25 per device, per month
View PricingOverview
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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Pricing
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
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
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.
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 Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
| Supported Languages | English |
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
| Consumers | 0% |
|---|---|
| Small Businesses (1-50 employees) | 30% |
| Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees) | 60% |
| Enterprises (more than 500 employees) | 10% |
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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!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
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
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December 16, 2019
An Awesome Product from an Awesome Company
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I have enjoyed using Fleetsmith for managing our Apple products. Fleetsmith has been able to provide a niche product for a niche market, and they care about the organizations they support. Any issue that I have ever had has been resolved quickly. I appreciate what they are doing and how the product is evolving.
September 11, 2019
On Fleet.
We are using Fleetsmith to inventory and manage Mac devices for our company and clients. It's used across the whole organization and maximizes our ability to automate. It helps give great reporting information (encryption status) and helps keep the computer up to date.
September 09, 2019
Good system
Currently, most employees are using Google Chromebooks. However, employees such as myself use Macs for our jobs and daily tasks. Since it's hard to keep up with inventory and security with Macs, we use Fleetsmith for managed remote and local Macbooks. With Fleetsmith, I feel more comfortable with our company asset given to employees without fear of a stolen laptop or sensitive company documents getting leaked out.
September 09, 2019
The no-nonsense fleet management solution for startups
Fleetsmith is used across the organization to manage our relatively small fleet of Mac devices.
September 08, 2019
Fleetsmith
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Fleetsmith to manage our corporate Mac OS fleet, pushing software patches and configuration to our whole company, enforcing policies and supporting the security and compliance baselines required in our market. It enables us to amplify our small engineering team with enterprise-scale policies and visibility of potential risks before they become problems.
September 08, 2019
So So
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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 location.
September 05, 2019
Fleetsmith Review
We use Fleetsmith to manage software and settings for our staff computers. I like that I have the ability to set security, wifi and system settings as well as make sure that 3rd party software is kept updated and current. The G Suite integration is really helpful for our classroom computers so when a teacher switches rooms they just need to log into the computer in the room.
September 05, 2019
A great product!
We have been using it across the whole organization. It's our MDM of choice currently and it helps ensure all of our devices contain anti-virus, encryption, and firewall and are up to date.
September 04, 2019
Great fit for our company
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I am the account holder and manager for our Fleetsmith account (Operations Team). We use Fleetsmith primarily for its ability to wipe devices remotely and control certain standards to meet with security regulations/ requirements for our clients.
September 03, 2019
Worth Using
Fleetsmith gives us the confidence that all our company-issued laptops are easily deployed and kept up to date. It provides both productivity enhancements and compliance gains with the associated peace of mind.
We run Fleetsmith on all employee workstations with access to systems that contain PHI (Protected Health Information). Fleetsmith allows us to meet all of our compliance requirements to maintain HITRUST certification on employee workstations.
August 22, 2019
Device management for a fast growing organization
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our entire organization uses Fleetsmith to control, manage and secure our Macs. It's used to keep everything updated, synced, secured, and tracked.
August 21, 2019
Fleetsmith makes managing Apple devices easy
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I have been using Fleetsmith for almost a year to manage our small fleet of Apple products. It makes my job so much easier to have a single pane of glass to manage and update these devices. I do not consider myself a Mac user so this interface makes it a delight to manage devices that otherwise would be left on their own to defend for themselves in an ever more dangerous world.
August 21, 2019
Makes Apple admin simple
It’s being used by my department to maintain laptops and mobile devices. It allows us to see who needs updates and allows us to roll out secure software.
August 20, 2019
Managing Macs at a distance with Fleetsmith
We manage about 170 Macs across four states. It has replaced manual provisioning for new computers and OS imaging on re-issued computers and upped our security stance considerably.
August 17, 2019
My Fleetsmith experience
We deploy Fleetsmith across the whole organization, MacOS only. It helps us to manage the consistency of the app updates and push common apps to the devices. Also, we control the security settings of the devices such as firewall, filevault, media management, and also MDM options to remote wipe/lock the devices.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Fleetsmith to manage our fleet of laptops across the business. The service works brilliantly and is simple and very efficient to use.
Whenever we have encountered any friction, which typically comes from Apple rather than Fleetsmith itself, they are always supportive, quick to respond and helpful. Onboarding in the early days was great and the service continues to work flawlessly since the day we signed up.
Whenever we have encountered any friction, which typically comes from Apple rather than Fleetsmith itself, they are always supportive, quick to respond and helpful. Onboarding in the early days was great and the service continues to work flawlessly since the day we signed up.
August 09, 2019
Happy Fleetsmith Customer!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Fleetsmith to manage our entire fleet of Macs for the company. We set up zero-touch deployments with Apple DEP. It allows us to manage and track our assets effectively while also providing us the tools to implement security best practices.
August 09, 2019
Fleetsmith Review
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It is used across Segment. It helps us to deploy globally.
August 09, 2019
Friendly, unobtrusive mobile device management
Fleetsmith solves two problems for me: first, I want to spend a minimum of time tinkering with the configuration of my own workstation, and second, I support relatively nontechnical users who have even less
patience for tinkering.
patience for tinkering.
August 09, 2019
Fleetsmith is Solid Software for Growing Startups
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Fleetsmith is our default MDM solution for our entire set of Macbooks and Apple devices. As a company focused on flexibility in the workplace, having a solution that worked well with a remote, part-time, and location diverse set of employees was critical to our success. We work with large Fortune 500 companies that need guarantees on safety and security that Fleetsmith helps orchestrate for us.