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kaartiks
kaartiks
Level 1.6: Donut
May 29, 2026
Question

Intermittent Loss of Managed App Configuration on Android Enterprise Devices

  • May 29, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 111 views

We're experiencing an intermittent issue with Managed App Configuration on Android Enterprise devices and are looking to understand whether others have seen similar behaviour.

Environment:

  • Android Enterprise Dedicated/Fully Managed devices
  • Honeywell devices (CT32 and EDA series)
  • MDM: Hexnode
  • Application: UKG Pro Mobile
  • App configuration deployed via Managed App Configuration through Android Enterprise

Issue:

From time to time, and without any obvious trigger, the UKG application appears to lose its managed configuration (tenant URL and related settings). Users are then unable to access the application as expected.

What we've observed:

  • The device remains enrolled and managed.
  • The policy is still present within Hexnode.
  • Other device management functions continue to work normally.
  • Re-syncing the policy from Hexnode immediately restores the configuration and resolves the issue.

The behaviour appears random, and we have not yet been able to identify a clear pattern related to device model, Android version, app updates, or user actions.

Our understanding from Hexnode is that managed app configurations are delivered through Google's Android Enterprise framework rather than being written directly by the MDM to the application.

Questions:

  1. Has anyone experienced managed app configurations becoming unavailable or seemingly disappearing until a policy refresh is performed?
  2. Are there Android Enterprise logs or diagnostics available to verify whether a managed configuration is currently present on a device?
  3. Are there any known Android Enterprise, Managed Google Play, or Honeywell-specific issues that could cause this behaviour?
  4. Has anyone encountered similar issues with UKG or other applications using Managed App Configuration?

Any guidance, recommendations, or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

2 replies

mattdermody
mattdermody
Level 3.0: Honeycomb
May 29, 2026

Do you have any scripting to wipe the application cache or storage for the affected app? Clearing app data can potentially wipe out managed configurations.

Other than that this to me seems maybe more like a bug in the application itself. 

kaartiks
kaartiksAuthor
Level 1.6: Donut
May 29, 2026

Thanks for the suggestion.

I don't currently have a script to clear the application cache or storage. For testing, I manually go to:

Settings -> Apps -> UKG > Storage

and clear the cache/storage from there.

One observation from my testing is that on a healthy device, even after clearing the UKG app cache/storage, the managed configuration appears to remain intact. When I reopen the app, the tenant information and other configuration values are automatically populated again.

However, on an affected device, after reopening the app, those configuration values are not automatically populated and the application behaves as though it no longer has access to the managed configuration. Re-syncing the policy from the MDM immediately restores the configuration and functionality.

This is why I'm currently trying to determine whether the issue is occurring within the Android Enterprise managed configuration delivery mechanism or whether the UKG application is intermittently failing to consume the managed configuration that Android Enterprise provides.

Moombas
Moombas
Level 4.4: KitKat
May 29, 2026

It sound maybe somehow correct that on an affected device the data remains empty even after cleaning the app as otherwise it wouldn’t be affected.

Can you try if it still stays like that if you uninstall and reinstall the app via the play store?

As just redeploying the config to the device, i guess we can sort out any kind of network or connection issues.

Are your devices somehow relocated for some kind of reasons meaning put in some configuration groups (automatically) where this app is not present or without configuration and then maybe routed back where this kind of data may get lost? (just a weird idea from others)

Alex_Muc
Alex_Muc
Level 3.0: Honeycomb
June 1, 2026

The statement from Hexnode Support is correct. The EMM sends the AppConfig to Managed Google Play. The configuration is stored there for the device and is passed to the app as needed.
It's difficult to say for certain where the problem might lie.


1) Hexnode <> Managed Google Play: Is the AppConfig in the MDM a clear rule? Is it possible that there is another assignment that could cause the MDM to remove the AppConfig for the app?
2) Is updating the AppConfig the only workaround? Or would reinstalling the app from Managed Google Play also help?
3) Does this problem occur only with the UKG Pro Mobile app, or with other apps as well? Has this problem been occurring since a specific date? Then the problem might be with the app.

 

Are you still using the EMM API/Custom DPC and running on-premises? If not: Does Hexnode Support have the ability to retrieve the AppConfig directly from Managed Google Play for an affected device? At least that would make it clear whether the AppConfig is missing or present.

kaartiks
kaartiksAuthor
Level 1.6: Donut
June 1, 2026

Thanks for the detailed response.

  1. From what I've investigated so far, the AppConfig in the MDM is a clear and dedicated assignment. I also created a separate test policy containing only the UKG AppConfig and assigned it to a test device, which worked as expected. I haven't found any evidence yet that affected devices are being moved into another group or receiving another policy that would remove or overwrite the configuration, but I'm continuing to investigate that possibility.

  2. We have already tested reinstalling the application, and unfortunately that did not resolve the issue. The app still launched without the required configuration. The only reliable workaround we've found so far is re-syncing the MDM policy, which re-applies the AppConfig and immediately restores functionality.

  3. At this stage, we have only observed the issue with the UKG Pro Mobile app. We have a number of other applications deployed through the same MDM environment using Android Enterprise, but we haven't seen similar reports from those apps.

One interesting observation is that UKG released a new app version around 16 May. Roughly 7-8 days later we started seeing reports of missing configuration and the Punch In/Out button not loading. I don't have enough evidence yet to confirm a direct relationship, but the timing is something I'm looking into.

We're no longer using the legacy EMM API/Custom DPC or an on-premises deployment. Everything is running through Android Enterprise with Hexnode cloud management.

Your last point is actually one of the key questions I'm discussing with Hexnode Support. If they can determine whether the AppConfig is still present within Managed Google Play / Android Enterprise for an affected device before a policy re-sync is performed, that would help narrow the issue down significantly. It would tell us whether the configuration is being lost somewhere in the Android Enterprise delivery chain or whether the UKG app is failing to consume a configuration that is still present.

Moombas
Moombas
Level 4.4: KitKat
June 2, 2026

But your observation of the app update can be really it. Maybe the app has an issue throwing away it’s configuration or maybe because of a bug it gets corrupted and so unconfigured.

But then still i would expect that the configuration should come through google play again (not sure if this needs to be triggered from the MDM) on regular base but latest on uninstall/reinstall. That could be something Hexonde should be able to help with in my opinion.

I guess the hard part is you can’t actively reproduce it, right?

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