How to manage data transfer between iOS apps in Microsoft Intune

To help protect company data, restrict file transfers to only the apps that you manage. You can manage iOS apps in the following ways:

• Protect Org data for work or school accounts by configuring an app protection policy for the apps. which we call policy managed apps. See Microsoft Intune protected apps.

• Deploy and manage the apps through iOS device management, which requires devices to enroll in a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution. The apps you deploy can be policy managed apps or other iOS managed apps.

The Open-in management feature for enrolled iOS devices can limit file transfers between iOS managed apps. Set Open-in management restrictions using an app protection policy that sets Send org data to other apps to the Policy managed apps with Open-In/Share filtering value and then deploy the policy using Intune. When a user installs the deployed app, the restrictions you set are applied based on the assigned policy.

Use Open-in management to protect iOS apps and data

Use App protection policies with the iOS Open-in management feature to protect company data in the following ways:

• Devices not managed by any MDM solution: You can set the app protection policy settings to control sharing of data with other applications via Open-in or Share extensions. To do so, configure the Send org data to other apps setting to Policy managed apps with Open-In/Share filtering value. The Open-in/Share behavior in the policy managed app presents only other policy managed apps as options for sharing. For related information, see App protection policies for iOS/iPadOS and Android apps, Data Transfer, and iOS share extension.

• Devices managed by MDM solutions: For devices enrolled in Intune or third-party MDM solutions, data sharing between apps with app protection policies and other managed iOS apps deployed through MDM is controlled by Intune APP policies and the iOS Open-in management feature. To make sure that apps you deploy using a MDM solution are also associated with your Intune app protection policies, configure the user UPN setting as described in the following section, Configure user UPN setting. To specify how you want to allow data transfer to other policy managed apps and iOS managed apps, configure Send org data to other apps setting to Policy managed apps with OS sharing. To specify how you want to allow an app to receive data from other apps, enable Receive data from other apps and then choose your preferred level of receiving data. For more information about receiving and sharing app data, see Data relocation settings.

Configure user UPN setting for Microsoft Intune or third-party EMM

Configuring the user UPN setting is required for devices that are managed by Intune or a third-party EMM solution to identify the enrolled user account for the sending policy managed app when transferring data to an iOS managed app. The UPN configuration works with the app protection policies you deploy from Intune. The following procedure is a general flow on how to configure the UPN setting and the resulting user experience:

1. In the Microsoft Intune admin center, create and assign an app protection policy for iOS/iPadOS. Configure policy settings per your company requirements and select the iOS apps that should have this policy.

2. Deploy the apps and the email profile that you want managed through Intune or your third-party MDM solution using the following generalized steps. This experience is also covered by Example 1.

3. Deploy the app with the following app configuration settings to the managed device:

   key = IntuneMAMUPN, value = [email protected]

   Example: ['IntuneMAMUPN', '[email protected]']

   Note

   In Intune, the App Configuration policy enrollment type must be set to Managed Devices. Additionally, the app needs to be either installed from the Intune Company Portal (if set as available) or pushed as required to the device.

   Note

   Deploy IntuneMAMUPN app configuration settings to the target managed app which sends data. Adding the app configuration key to the receiving app is optional.

   Note

   Currently, there is no support for enrolling with a different user on an app if there is a MDM enrolled account on the same device.

4. Deploy the Open-in management policy using Intune or your third-party MDM provider to enrolled devices.

Example 1: Admin experience in Intune or third-party MDM console

1. Go to the Microsoft Intune admin center or your third-party MDM provider. Go to the section of the admin center in which you deploy application configuration settings to enrolled iOS devices.

2. In the Application Configuration section, enter the following setting for each policy managed app that will transfer data to iOS managed apps:

   key = IntuneMAMUPN, value = [email protected]

   The exact syntax of the key/value pair may differ based on your third-party MDM provider. The following table shows examples of third-party MDM providers and the exact values you should enter for the key/value pair.

   Third-party MDM provider	Configuration Key	Value Type	Configuration Value
   Microsoft Intune	IntuneMAMUPN	String	{{userprincipalname}}
   Microsoft Intune	IntuneMAMOID	String	{{userid}}
   VMware AirWatch	IntuneMAMUPN	String	{UserPrincipalName}
   MobileIron	IntuneMAMUPN	String	${userUPN} or ${userEmailAddress}
   Citrix Endpoint Management	IntuneMAMUPN	String	${user.userprincipalname}
   ManageEngine Mobile Device Manager	IntuneMAMUPN	String	%upn%

Example 2: End-user experience

Sharing from a policy managed app to other applications with OS sharing

1. A user opens the Microsoft OneDrive app on an enrolled iOS device and signs-in to their work account. The account the user enters must match the account UPN you specified in the app configuration settings for the Microsoft OneDrive app.

2. After sign-in, your Administrator configured APP settings apply to the user account in Microsoft OneDrive. This includes configuring the Send Org data to other apps setting to the Policy managed apps with OS sharing value.

3. The user previews a work file and attempts to share via Open-in to iOS managed app.

4. The data transfer succeeds and data is now protected by Open-in management in the iOS managed app. Intune APP does not apply to applications that are not policy managed apps.

Sharing from a iOS managed app to a policy managed app with incoming Org data

1. A user opens native Mail on an enrolled iOS device with a Managed email profile.

2. The user opens a work document attachment from native Mail to Microsoft Word.

3. When the Word app launches, one of two experiences occur:

   1. The data is protected by Intune APP when:
      • The user is signed-in to their work account that matches the account UPN you specified in the app configuration settings for the Microsoft Word app.
      • Your Administrator configured APP settings apply to the user account in Microsoft Word. This includes configuring the Receive data from other apps setting to the All apps with incoming Org data value.
      • The data transfer succeeds and the document is tagged with the work identity in the app. Intune APP protects the user actions for the document.
   2. The data is not protected by Intune APP when:
      • The user is not signed-in to their work account.
      • Your Administrator configured settings are not applied to Microsoft Word because the user is not signed in.
      • The data transfer succeeds and the document is not tagged with the work identity in the app. Intune APP does not protects the user actions for the document because it is not active.

   Note

   The user can add and use their personal accounts with Word. App protection policies don't apply when the user uses Word outside of a work-context.

Validate user UPN setting for third-party EMM

After configuring the user UPN setting, validate the iOS app's ability to receive and comply to Intune app protection policy.

For example, the Require app PIN policy setting is easy to test. When the policy setting equals Require, the user should see a prompt to set or enter a PIN before they can access company data.

First, create and assign an app protection policy to the iOS app. For more information on how to test app protection policy, See Validate app protection policies.

See also

What is Intune app protection policy