Knox Guard 1.7 release notes

An emergency message is now available on a locked device

To date, a Knox Guard managed device cannot receive and display emergency messages when in a locked device state. This restriction can create serious legal issues in countries and regions where the broadcast of emergency messages is required.

To remedy this situation, emergency messages are now displayed above a device’s lock screen while the device remains in its current locked state. No additional device-side screens are introduced with the addition of the emergency.

Offline device lock capability added

To date, Knox Guard does not provide the ability to lock an offline device. Consequently, if a user does not purposely connect to network, the device is rendered out of Knox Guard control by not receiving its policy from its dedicated Knox Guard server.

Beginning with this release, a device can be locked when out of network after a configurable period of time. Before the timer is expired and the device is locked, an admin can display an offline lock warning message at a defined frequency. Once an offline device is locked, the device user is required to contact their carrier to restore functionality. The device user must share the challenge code on their device’s lock screen (generated when the device was locked), and then the admin provides a PIN to the device user to enter on their device to restore its functionality.

The offline lock feature is only supported on devices running Android P or above.

Device unlock functionality update

Beginning with this release, a device user and an IT admin must collaborate to unlock a device. An IT admin needs to generate a PIN from the passkey displayed on the user’s device, then share the PIN with the device user to unlock their device. In this case, both the PIN generation algorithm and password generation method are updated.

This device unlock update is only supported on devices running Android P or above.

Separate default enrollment and SIM change messaging now available

With this release, enrollment notices can be optionally enabled for end-user devices. Once globally enabled, separate completion of enrollment and SIM change messages can be optionally enabled as well. The completion of enrollment message is a customizable, 200-character maximum, message displayed once the setup wizard is completed on the device. The SIM card change message is a non-customizable message displayed when the SIM card is changed on the mobile device.