Apps and Books: buying app licences your business keeps

Key facts

• Apps and Books is included with Apple Business Manager at no extra cost.
• Licences bought this way are owned by the business and can be revoked and reassigned to another person.
• Apps can be installed silently through your management platform without the user signing in to anything.
• Free apps are worth distributing this way too, because it puts the install under management rather than under a personal account.
• App purchases made on an employee’s own Apple ID cannot be transferred to the business afterwards.
• Licence reassignment is one of the few parts of offboarding that pays for itself in money rather than only in tidiness.

Why this is worth the setup

The default pattern in a small business is that someone needs an app, expenses it, and buys it on whatever Apple ID is signed in to the device. Two things follow. The licence belongs to that person permanently, so when they leave you buy it again. And the app cannot be managed, updated or removed by your management platform, because the platform did not install it.

The first is a money problem that compounds quietly. The second is a control problem that shows up when you need to remove access in a hurry.

How Apps and Books works

What is Apps and Books in Apple Business Manager?

Apps and Books is the volume purchasing section of Apple Business Manager. You buy licences there, in quantity if you want, against the organisation rather than a person. Those licences sync to your device management platform, which can then assign them to devices or to users and install the apps.

The key difference from buying in the App Store is ownership. The organisation holds the licence, it appears in your management console as an inventory you can see and count, and assignment is something you change rather than something fixed at the point of purchase.

Why buy apps through Apple Business Manager instead of the App Store?

Four reasons. The licence is yours rather than the employee’s, so it survives their departure. Installation is silent, meaning the app appears on the device without the person needing to sign in with an Apple ID or approve anything, which matters enormously on shared or kiosk devices. Removal is possible, since an app installed by your platform can be removed by your platform. And you get an actual record of what you own and who has it, instead of a pile of expense claims.

The silent install point is worth dwelling on for businesses with iPads used by more than one person, in a warehouse, on a shop floor or in the field. Without volume licensing, every one of those devices needs an Apple ID signed in to install anything, which is exactly the situation you are trying to avoid.

Can you reassign an app licence when someone leaves?

Yes, and this is the main financial argument. A licence bought through Apps and Books can be revoked from the departing person and assigned to their replacement, from your management console, without contacting anybody.

A licence bought on their personal Apple ID cannot. That purchase is tied to their account permanently and there is no Apple process to transfer it to the business afterwards. If it was a fifteen dollar utility, you shrug. If it was a professional application at a few hundred dollars per seat, you buy it again, and you will keep buying it again every time someone moves on.

This is also why it is worth doing an inventory of what your team has bought on personal accounts before you start. You cannot transfer those licences, but you can decide which ones to repurchase properly and stop the pattern repeating.

How do you buy paid apps in Australia?

You need payment set up in Apple Business Manager before you can buy paid licences. Apple supports credit card payment, and for larger volumes there is an option to buy credit through a reseller and apply it to the account, which suits businesses that would rather use an existing purchasing arrangement than put app purchases on a card.

Free apps need no payment method at all, so there is no reason to delay. You can set up Apps and Books today, distribute the free apps your team uses through your management platform, and add payment when you first need a paid licence.

What to do first

Start with the free apps. Move the handful your team uses onto managed distribution, which costs nothing and immediately gives you silent install and clean removal. Then list the paid apps people have bought on personal accounts, work out which are business-critical, and repurchase those through Apps and Books so the next departure does not cost you.

Pair this with Managed Apple IDs, since the two together are what stop company purchases living in personal accounts.

If your team is expensing apps onto personal Apple IDs, 4iT sets up Apps and Books, moves your app distribution under management and works out which existing purchases are worth repurchasing properly. Request a callback or get in touch.