News and Updates — Florida

I hope everyone got a chance to unplug over the July 4th weekend, though I suspect most of you are already back into summer projects. It's been a few weeks since WWDC26, and Apple hasn't slowed down since: beta 3 has already landed across several platforms, and there's fresh guidance for education IT teams on what's coming this fall. Below, you'll find two recaps covering what was announced and what to expect later this year.

On the update front, 26.5.2 shipped for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS last week, worth a look at the release notes before your next patch cycle. And if you're at Penn State this week, you're not alone: MacAdmins Conference is underway. I'll be keeping an eye on key sessions and will pass along word on recordings once they're posted.

As always, I'd love to hear what's useful to you here, and what you could do without. This newsletter only gets better with your feedback.

Thank you,
Tim

⚠️ Software Updates

What's New

Keynote, Pages, and Numbers — Update to 15.1 and Later

The Apple Creator Studio versions of Keynote, Pages, and Numbers require a new universal version (15.1 or later) for Mac, which can coexist with 14.5 until you're ready to upgrade everyone. If you're not using the subscription features, you can suppress prompts to subscribe on behalf of your users with the suppressPrompts managed preference key (15.1+), and suppress the privacy disclosure screen with suppressAgreements (15.3+). Important: if users have password-protected documents, notify them to follow the steps in Apple's deployment guide before removing the 14.5 versions. Version 15.3, now available, adds direct Pixelmator Pro image editing for Creator Studio subscribers.

Volume Purchase Free Apps

Later this year, managing free apps using volume purchasing won't require acquiring and managing licenses in Apple School Manager and Apple Business. This simplifies the use of free apps for organizations and saves time for IT teams. When you add a free app to your organization, it becomes available for assignment to your users and devices with your device management service without requiring a quantity of licenses. If you already have licenses for an existing free app, you retain use of them in case the app later requires payment. All free apps you add after this change use the new behavior. Read more →

AppleSeed for IT — New Builds Available

New builds are available for testing. For release notes, known issues, and installation instructions, review Feedback Assistant or the AppleSeed web portal, and please file feedback if you're testing. Open Feedback Assistant →  ·  AppleSeed web portal →

A Practical Guide to Modern Apple Device Management with DDM

A free ebook from Jamf on how Declarative Device Management shifts fleet management from reactive to proactive — continuous device-state reporting, automated enforcement, and predictable update cycles. Download the ebook →

Mac Evaluation Utility 4.8

New tests for courier.apple.com and SHA1 app usage, plus an updated Custom Hosts test for TLS 1.2. Available via AppleSeed. Download →

In the News

Jamf Pro 11.29.1 — Attended and Unattended Platform SSO

Jamf Pro now supports both Attended and Unattended Platform SSO enrollment flows. The Unattended flow allows PSSO registration to complete automatically during enrollment without user input — useful for lab and shared-device deployments. Release notes →

Total Economic Impact of Apple Mac At Work

A new Forrester Consulting study, released in June and commissioned by Apple, found $760 in TCO savings per Mac over five years, 100 minutes reclaimed per employee per month, and an 80% reduced likelihood of data breach via lost or stolen assets. Useful reference for procurement and lifecycle conversations. Read the study →

New Book for Apple Admins — Mastering Swift, Available for Pre-Order

Charles Edge, Jeremy Bannister, and Joel Rennich have a new book on Swift scripting for device automation, MDM integration, and enterprise systems — written specifically for client platform engineers and device administrators. Available for pre-order now; ships September 15. Pre-order →

Upcoming Events

Higher Education Webinars

View all Higher Education events →

Enterprise Technical Workshops Not Education-Specific

Apple's ongoing enterprise readiness workshop series — content applies broadly to any organization managing Apple devices, not tailored to higher ed. Still valuable for IT teams. View the full series →

Summer 2026 IT Tech Camps

Apple's annual IT Tech Camps webcast series, highlighting new IT features from WWDC26. Three consecutive days. View all Higher Education events →

Academic Health Webinars

For a full list of sessions, including topics beyond IT, visit apple.co/academichealthevents →

In-Person & Major Events

Training & Resources

On-Demand Video Series

• Deploying Apple in Education — Fundamentals of Apple deployment for IT organizations — managing devices at scale.
• Education IT & Security — Apple Intelligence, device management, and enterprise-grade security standards.
• Apple Education Store Help — Proposals, orders, invoices, and returns, made simple.

IT Training

• Apple Professional Training for IT — Self-paced online training and certification for IT professionals, on your schedule.
• Introduction to Supporting macOS — A three-part instructor-led virtual workshop on Mac hardware, macOS, and help desk essentials.
• Apple Readiness Workshops — Free, interactive sessions on ASM, new features, beta testing, and best practices, led by Apple Systems Engineers.
• Get to Know Your Mac — Free live virtual training for PC-to-Mac switchers and new-to-Mac beginners. Share with your end users.
• CDW Apple IT Training — Five training courses for IT teams supporting Apple endpoints.
• Jamf Training — Self-paced and instructor-led training for Jamf administrators.

Community & Reference

• IT Deployment and Management — Education Community Forum — Connect with Apple and peers on deployment tips, software updates, and best practices.
• Apple Education Store Help — Video guides covering proposals, orders, invoices, and returns.

Apple Platform Guides

• Apple Platform Deployment
• Apple Platform Support
• Apple Platform Security
• Apple Platform Certifications

Enterprise OS Reference

• Apple security releases — Latest updates across all platforms

Contact

Tim David