Forum Discussion
Looking for solutions to assist in Bulk Management (Wipe) of Android Enterprise devices
Hi everyone, I'm turning to the community to see if there are any solutions being used out in the wild that assist with bulk wiping Android devices.
I suspect that what I'm asking may not be possible - mainly due to the nature of Android Developer Options, USB Debugging etc. - but I've been I've been tasked by our management to investigate and possibly propose a solution.
As an example, we currently use several Cambrionix ThunderSync3 16 port devices to DFU both iOS and macOS devices but they don't offer a similar solution for Android.
Are there any solutions that can be used either in tandem with docking stations like Cambrionix or some other.
Our use case is Work Managed and we use Omnissa Workspace ONE UEM to manage the devices. The devices themselves are Pixels and Samsungs. and each device is loaded into either the Google Zero Touch Portal or the Samsung Knox Portal.
The expectation is that when a large number of Androids are returned for whatever reason, we'd like to be able to plug the device into a "station" and programatically wipe them en masse.
Personally, I think we need to simplify our returns process and use the MDM in a controlled environment but I have to have asked these questions, due diligence and all that.
Thanks in advance for your input.
So, first of all, if we speak about (mobile) Android devices, you don't need to plug them in, they just need a data connection to the MDM/EMM like Wifi, Networkadapter or similar.
So in case of Wifi for ex., there would be no physical connection needed.
A bulk wipe can be done triggered from MDM/EMM side if it provides such possibility. I know that you can wipe devices using WS1 but i don't know if you can check multiple devices and then send the relevant command to them.
Maybe someone here with knowledge in WS1 can tell you.
No external app or anything else needed, just the things you already have in hand then.
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For ex. we could do this from Soti Mobicontrol (different MDM/EMM) to send such commands to chosen devices in multiple ways but they need to be online and connected to the MDM ofc.
3 Replies
Oh this is an interesting one. There are a few dedicated folks who may have valid solutions to offer here, but I'd probably look at a small companion app that detects when it's docked to your hub, possibly in combination with a geo policy unless your hubs can be programmed to identify themselves uniquely from other docks, and send a wipe command to omnissa via API.
Just to add here, this would only work if the relevant usb (adb) connection is not blocked from MDM side which is required to read out the IMEI or SNR.
Edit: I was looking other way around (from app running from dock side not from the mobile side) so, forget what i wrote.
But i think to do this on android app base you need to do digging on what kind of Information you get out of the connected usb device/dock and need to define for example a unique device/dock identifier (ideall through managed app config) to (maybe locally or via an api) execute the wipe command then.
I think this could be too heavy to be done instead of doing the wipe by filter&search, select the relevant devices and send the wipe command (if they are online).
So, first of all, if we speak about (mobile) Android devices, you don't need to plug them in, they just need a data connection to the MDM/EMM like Wifi, Networkadapter or similar.
So in case of Wifi for ex., there would be no physical connection needed.
A bulk wipe can be done triggered from MDM/EMM side if it provides such possibility. I know that you can wipe devices using WS1 but i don't know if you can check multiple devices and then send the relevant command to them.
Maybe someone here with knowledge in WS1 can tell you.
No external app or anything else needed, just the things you already have in hand then.
_________________________
For ex. we could do this from Soti Mobicontrol (different MDM/EMM) to send such commands to chosen devices in multiple ways but they need to be online and connected to the MDM ofc.
