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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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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 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

(1-17 of 17)
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September 11, 2019

On Fleet.

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Like I mentioned earlier, Fleetsmith's ease of use is better than the others that I've had experience with (e.g. Addigy, JAMF). It's intuitive and it doesn't take a long time to get the basics down. The UI is great and it takes care of most of what I need it to do.
Pax Whitfield | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The primary products we checked out were Mosyle, JAMF, and SimpleMDM. In the end it really came down to the simplicity of our needs and the simplicity of Fleetsmith's approach being in tight harmony. We kicked the tires, hard, for about a month and then dove all the way in.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have tested Cisco Meraki, but the UI is so chaotic. It is not easy to find the function at one go as we need to take time to explore the navigation. The configured device at times gives a false alert. Device enrolment is not straightforward. The licensing fees are slightly pricier. One main thing, the Fleetsmith app update is better. Meraki requires you to get the manual patch or updated files in order to push to the device.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our decision was made some time ago so I don't remember all the details but we went with Fleetsmith originally on a recommendation.

One major influence was the direct and no-effort integration into our G Suite account for ease of management and tying back to our organisation within there. This makes life easy and incredibly straightforward which is very important for us beyond MDM functionality.
Steve Huff | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Jamf seems much more dependent upon a dedicated IT staff to configure and support it; I chose Fleetsmith because to a much greater extent it “just works” out of the box. To my mind, the value proposition is that it comes as close as possible to eliminate the need for IT staff where fleet management is concerned.
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