Okta Mobility Management - End of Life August 2023

This article explains the Okta Mobile Management (OMM) End-of-Life behavior as well as the most frequently asked question.

• Okta Mobile Management
• Okta Classic Engine

In 2018, Okta announced End of Support for Okta Mobility Management (OMM), limiting investment in OMM while allowing existing customers to continue using it for the duration of their contracts and future renewals.

NOTE: If actively using Okta Mobility Management, please read this article, which covers the details on Okta Mobility Management End of Life.

To keep delivering innovative features of the Okta Devices Platform Service, Okta will end of life Okta Mobility Management on August 1, 2023. Okta had planned for OMM's EOL on November 1, 2022, and sent multiple communications to customers leading up to that date. Okta is now completing the EOL process. After August 1, 2023, OMM will no longer be available and will stop working in the Admin Console and on enrolled devices. For existing Okta Mobility Management customers, this FAQ provides additional information about what this means for the organization.

What is Okta’s devices strategy?

Users expect access to their corporate apps from anywhere, on any device—and they expect the experience to be seamless and modern. IT needs to ensure corporate data is secure while enabling users to stay productive. In today’s perimeter-less world, the threat surface area is increasingly complex and sophisticated, and customers are looking to Okta to provide intelligent, contextual access controls that embrace mobile access.

The best way to address customer needs and secure device-based access is to take a vendor-neutral approach and focus on building tight integrations with the leading device management solutions from VMware, MobileIron, Microsoft, and others.

By tightly integrating with leading Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) products, Okta can deliver a seamless, best-in-class contextual access management solution that provides the broadest set of access controls over the devices used to access their corporate apps, while still delivering the delightful user experience they expect from Okta.

Over the past few years, the device development efforts have been focused on:

• Providing customers with the most flexible and intelligent contextual access management solution that embraces 3rd-party device trust as a critical policy component.
• Developing a broad set of integrations with leading device management vendors (for example, VMware, MobileIron, Microsoft, and JAMF) that will allow customers to select the EMM vendor of choice.
• Delivering a secure, passwordless experience for users that rivals the Okta desktop experience.
• Registering devices to Okta’s Universal Directory to take device-specific actions (suspend and delete individual devices)
• An enhanced Okta Verify app that acts as the underlying integration layer for features like Okta FastPass, Endpoint Security Integrations, and more.

This focus has materialized in the product as Okta’s Device Platform Service, which enables features such as Device Trust, Okta FastPass, Limited Access, and more. 

The team is committed to continuing to deliver on device-based access capabilities without requiring Okta to act as the endpoint management vendor. 

What happens when the Okta Mobility Management contract has already expired?

Customers still using OMM with an expired contract need to transition to another MDM/EDM solution by August 1, 2023, or prepare to lose functionality.

What renewal options are available for current Okta Mobility Management customers?

Existing OMM customers with a renewal may renew OMM through August 1, 2023. Customers who want to swap the remaining value of an OMM contract for another product before the EOL date should contact their Okta account team. 

Existing OMM customers with a subscription term that extends beyond August 1, 2023, have the following options: 

1. Okta applies the unused paid value of the OMM contract toward another product in the Okta subscription. 
2. Okta refunds the unused paid value of the OMM contract. 

NOTE: If neither option is suitable for the organization, contact the Okta account team.

Will the Okta Mobility Management administration console be removed at the end of the contract date?

Yes, after the contract end date (and only then), Okta will automatically unenroll any remaining devices from Okta Mobility Management and remove the Okta Mobility Management product SKU from the Okta org. This will also remove the Okta Mobility Management admin console from the Okta org. Okta will not remove Okta Mobility Management from the Okta org prior to the contract end date.

What happens to devices enrolled in Okta Mobility Management at the end of the contract date?

At the end of the contract date, Okta automatically unenrolls all remaining devices enrolled in OMM and removes the OMM console from the org.

Will Okta remove the Okta Mobility Management console automatically at the end-of-life date (August 1, 2023)?

Okta will only remove Okta Mobility Management from the org once the contract end date is reached.

Some customers may have contract terms for Okta Mobility Management past the end-of-life date of August 1, 2023. If this applies and the decision has been made not to use the contract's unused paid value toward another product or to receive a refund, Okta will not remove Okta Mobility Management from the Okta org until the initially agreed-upon end-of-contract date.

Once the contract end date is reached, Okta will remove any remaining enrolled devices from Okta Mobility Management, and the Okta Mobility Management admin console will be removed from the Okta org.

What are the steps to stop using Okta Mobility Management before contract renewal?

For customers whose renewal is approaching and who do not plan to renew through the EOL date, remove all enrolled devices from the Admin Console and, optionally, notify users and evaluate a replacement endpoint management solution by completing the following steps:

1. (Optional) Notify users that the OMM profile will be removed from their devices.
2. Remove all enrolled devices through the Admin Console.
3. (Optional) If an endpoint management solution is still required, evaluate Okta's Device Trust feature, which enables organizations to ensure users can access Okta-managed applications only from managed devices.

What happens to devices that may still be enrolled in Okta Mobility Management past the contract end date when access to the Okta Mobility Management console is no longer available?

Okta will automatically unenroll devices after the end of the contract date. In scenarios where a device is unreachable (that is, the device is offline), the OMM profile will remain on the device. The profile on these devices will need to be manually removed in order to be managed by another endpoint management solution.

While OMM will no longer work on enrolled devices, some users may need to manually remove OMM from their devices. This is not something that Okta can do through automation; users need to take the action themselves:

• On Android:
  1. Go to Accounts and Passwords in Settings.
  2. Click Delete work profile.
• On iOS:
  1. Go to the Settings app.
  2. Go to General > VPN & Device Management > Remove Profile.

What vendors does Okta suggest as an alternative to Okta Mobility Management? Do these vendors integrate with Okta in any way?

Okta’s preferred endpoint management partner is VMware Workspace ONE. Utilizing VMware Workspace ONE, customers can take advantage of use cases such as:

• Ensuring only managed devices can access apps managed by Okta.
• Enabling passwordless authentication on managed devices.
• Prompting for MFA on unmanaged devices.
• Resetting the Okta password from the Workspace ONE dashboard.

Read more about the Okta + VMware integration here.

Is VMware Workspace ONE the only endpoint management solution Okta integrates with?

No, customers can choose to use any endpoint management solution as a replacement for Okta Mobility Management. For customers looking to integrate their endpoint management solution with Okta for Device Trust use cases, see the Device Trust documentation for details. 

NOTE: With the release of Okta’s identity engine in H2 of 2021, customers will have even more flexibility in deploying device-based access use cases. More details on updates coming with the identity engine can be found here.

Will Okta Mobility Management be supported on Okta’s Identity Engine? 

No, Okta Mobility Management will not be supported on Okta’s Identity Engine.

What impact does the end of life have on the Okta Mobile app?

Okta Mobility Management EOL does not have any impact on the Okta Mobile app.

Who should be contacted for additional questions?

Contact the Okta account team for any additional questions regarding OMM EOL, contract options, or alternative solutions.