In the Windows CE world, I always manually controlled when my applications updated in MobiControl by moving devices to new release folders. Yeah, I know that is not how most installations do it. I did this for several reasons. The first devices I managed (Psion 7530/7535s) were highly unreliable on their installations. Under Windows CE the executable sizes were small and finally I found the scheduling in the early versions of MobiControl to be unreliable with Windows CE.

Now I am diving into the Android world with both feet due to the shutdown of 3G Cell. While it seems Android is more reliable about installations, the install size of the applications is huge compared to Windows CE and let's not talk about patch sizes. 

My issue is that my devices are very often stored in areas that contain a lot of concrete and steel which by nature makes cell connections hit and miss. All devices are supposed to be put in networked cradles every night, but we all know how that goes :-/.

So I have come to the conclusion that I NEED to evaluate methods of utilizing the options within MobiControl that allow for a scheduled delivery. What I would like to accomplish is to have a profile with the new versions of my applications get pre-staged on the device and then when the time comes that I what them installed, the installation gets triggered and the installation happens quickly.

I thought I had figured it out and attempted to set up an install using scheduled profiles for tonight. What a mess! Fortunately I am still in the the 100+ devices, but over the next month I will be sitting with over 1000 devices. Since the Agile development is going on, everyone things that we can have deployments every two weeks...... in my opinion not a pretty site. 

My problem tonight what that I had Profile A with version 1 of the app and I attempted to assign Profile B with version 2 of the app. I set an install date far into the future as I only wanted the apps to download but not install. My plan was to replace Profile B with a Clone of Profile B without the schedule associated with it. I didn't get to first base as Profile B failed because it said the a version of the application already existed on the device. I thought I had this whole thing worked out in my Dev environment. 

So, I am looking for advise, how are others accomplishing this. My applications are line of business applications and the versions that are supported are tightly controlled by the development teams (they rarely support more than 1 version).

Environment: 

MobiControl 14.1.2

Agent: 13.6.0.1662

Android Management: AEDO

Device: Zebra TC77 Locked down in Kiosk Mode Shared by multiple users

Any advise appreciated. Thanks in Advance.