Managing multiple Macs in a business — image credit: MacPaw
Setapp and CleanMyMac developer MacPaw has launched a new device management solution for small to medium-sized businesses, providing tools to manage fleets of Macs.
MacPaw is best known for its Setapp bundle of chiefly Mac apps, although in Europe it is working to introduce an iOS equivalent through its own App Store. Alongside the subscription bundle, the company also sells CleanMyMac for individuals, and says that it is this app that has led to the new service.
Specifically, MacPaw says that data from the use of CleanMyMac has improved the performance of individual Macs. It’s now hoping to bring those performance benefits to Macs across whole organizations, although it says that this is as an adjunct to full Mobile Device Management
CleanMyMac Business’s mobile device management (MDM) lets company administrators get:
- A Dashboard showing Mac fleet status
- Details of any specific device
- Mac Health Score for each device
- Disk cleaner and malware protection
- App management
- Scheduled automatic maintenance
Much of these tools are as in the individual CleanMyMac app, or the company’s previously announced real-time phishing detection system. They’ve been scaled up to allow IT admins to apply them company-wide, yet also have individual users see what is happening to their devices.
“Many traditional MDM tools run silently on devices, leaving users unaware of what actions admins could be taking on their devices,” says Pavlo Bogachevskyi, Product Marketing Manager at MacPaw. “CMM Business takes a different approach — it operates quietly in the background, but users can see any tasks or actions that administrators initiate.”
A two-week free trial of the service is available now. MacPaw has not yet released full pricing details. But during AppleInsider‘s pre-launch testing, the service did include references to a cost of approximately $3 per Mac.
Despite the comparisons to mobile device management services, MacPaw says that its CleanMyMac Business is not an MDM application. Instead it’s an adjunct, something that IT administrators can use atop existing services such as Jamf or Apple Business Essentials.
MacPaw company claims that when it’s used alongside other MDM services, CleanMyMac Business doesn’t replace the functions of the existing operation, but instead adds an extra layer of security.
The company also says that this is done without adding complexity, yet in practice it still means features being divided across two systems.
Consequently, the way that it uses its CleanMyMac features is more user-friendly than IT admin systems can be, but if it’s admin staff who are using it rather than individual users, it’s going to be hard to justify paying a second per-Mac fee just for that.
MacPaw is clearly leaning on its experience with apps for individuals by stressing this issue of how each user always knows what IT administrators are doing with their device. Most features to do with maintenance will be familiar if a user knows CleanMyMac, but every action IT takes will be shown to the user.
If the pre-launch references to $3 per Mac fee turn out to be correct, then CleanMyMac Business will priced on a par with Apple’s entry-level offering of $2.99/month per device. Jamf’s pricing starts at $5 per month, with a 25-seat minimum.
