Updating managed application and App Lock Payload

Question

A new iOS6 configuration profile reference defines a new App Lock Payload. It allows to lock an iPad to a single application (kiosk mode).

Is it possible to update such an application on the fly using Mobile Device Management (MDM)?

Answer 1

I would say no. App Lock is designed to limit access to the rest of the operating system. Allowing the user to accept a prompt to upgrade the app they are locked into might give them access (what if the upgrade failed? what if the app takes a long time to download?).

Answer 2

Jamf does exactly this with their Casper Focus product (and their JSS MDM) so the answer is yes it can be done. See here for details: http://www.jamfsoftware.com/products/casper-focus

The only downside I can see to this is that if Apple's push notification service (APNS) went down the device would stay locked in the app. If the app only needs to be locked in for a specific period of time you could avoid this conundrum by setting an expiry date (using the RemovalDate or DurationUntilRemoval key) in the profile to ensure that at some point the lock is removed.