Temporarily removing apps and configurations from mobile devices

This week is all about a new feature that is specifically for mobile devices, and that feature is the ability to remove, reinstall, and re-apply specific configuration policies, configuration profiles, and apps. The best part is that it can be achieved without changing the assignments of those apps and configurations. That can be really useful to help with resolving specific challenges and to quickly restore the productivity of the user. The apps and configurations that were removed will automatically be restored within 8-24 hours. Alternatively, the IT administrator can also manually initiate an action to restore the removed apps and configurations earlier. So, in the end, the focus remains on ensuring that the devices remain consistent with the assigned apps and configurations. This post will look at using this new remote action and monitoring the results of that action.

Note: In this blog post mobile devices is referring to iOS, iPadOS, and Android corporate-owned devices. For the latter it’s specific to Android Enterprise dedicated devices, fully-managed, and corporate-owned work profile devices.

Using a remote action for removing apps and configurations

When looking at temporarily removing apps and configurations, it’s all about the Remove apps and configuration remote action. That remote action can be used as a single device remote action. It basically enables the IT administrator to temporarily remove apps and configurations from a single mobile device. The following four steps walk through the removal of a specific configuration profile (also known as a configuration item in this context). These steps can be used for removing multiple apps and configuration profiles at the same time, for iOS, iPadOS, and Android devices.

1. Open the Microsoft Intune admin center portal navigate to Device > All devices
2. On the Devices | All devices page, select the required device and click on … > Remove apps and configuration
3. On the Apps and configuration to remove page, as shown below in Figure 1, select Add > Configuration item, select the configuration profile that should be removed and click Next

4. On the Review + remove page, verify the apps and configuration to remove and click Remove

Note: To select an app for removal, simply select Add > App in step 3.

Monitoring the remote action for removing apps and configurations

After triggering a remote action for removing apps and configurations, the basic status of the remote action can be viewed in the overview of the specific device. More specifically, in the Device actions status section. Besides that, also in the summary pages of the specific device, the removed apps and configurations will have a removed status. That’s, however, in both cases just a brief overview. For a more detailed complete overview of the performed remote action, simply return to the location of the remote action in the Microsoft Intune admin center. In other words, just follow the first two steps mentioned earlier. That will provide a more detailed overview of the removed apps and configurations, as shown below in Figure 2.

Restoring the removed apps and configurations

When the IT administrator is ready, it’s possible to initiate a Restore remote action to restore the removed apps and configurations. Eventually, when the IT administrator did not initiate a restore action, the removed apps and configurations will automatically be restored within 8-24 hours. That all makes sure that devices remain consistent with the assignments of the apps and configurations. The following four steps walk through the restoration of a specific configuration profile.

1. Open the Microsoft Intune admin center portal navigate to Device > All devices
2. On the Devices | All devices page, select the required device and click on … > Remove apps and configuration
3. On the Apps and configuration to remove page, as shown below in Figure 3, select the configuration profile (1) that should be restored and click Restore (2)

Note: To restore all apps and configurations, simply select Restore all in step 3.

This restore action will eventually update the status of the remote action in the basic overview and in the different detailed overviews. The same is applicable for the automatic restoration of removed apps and configurations.

More information

For more information about removing apps and configurations for mobile devices, refer to the following docs.

• Remove apps and configurations from devices | Microsoft Learn