I was recently contacted by a team who was unable to see the volume purchase program app in the intune apps.
The customer has working intune setup to enroll the iOS/iPadOS devices purchased through apple's Automated Device Enrollment (formerly DEP – Device Enrollment Program). AED/DEP lets you enroll a large number of devices without touching them.
Since the customer has DEP, applications are purchased through the Volume Purchase Program and will be synced to intune for the deployment of apps to user mobile devices.
Few days ago, there was an app that the customer has requested the team to purchase and then deploy to iOS devices that were enrolled as part of AED/DEP.
Purchasing an app through the Volume Purchase Program with Microsoft Intune is very easy. If you already have a working setup, you can log in to the apple business/school account and purchase the apps (free/license).
As a usual practice, I logged into the apple business manager portal, added the app with X licenses.
Once the app is added successfully, intune syncs with Apple VPP service twice a day however we can do a manual sync.
since the request is urgent, did manual sync by going to Tenant Administration, Apple VPP Tokens, right-click on the VPP Token, and click sync
Sync takes a few mins to complete and the app will be available in the Intune apps node.
I waited for an hour or so to see the app in the intune apps node but there is nothing available.
At this point, i was thinking of sync did not successfully done so try the sync one more time and see if that helps but no luck.
This time, i have purchased another app to see if the sync works or not, this time, app visible in the intune portal successfully.
So, this leads me to go back to the customer to ask about the application and how is it designed for accessibility such as any limitations on the region.
The customer told that this app has region limitations and can be accessed within the country.
At this point, i have to go back and check my VPP token properties and how is it created.
Go back to your VPP and click on properties to see the country/region, it is set to the united states.
Country/regional plays an important role in synchronizing the VPP apps from a specified VPP country/regional store.
Now I know, why did my VPP app not synced to intune and is because of the country/region.
I now have 2 options 1) Edit the settings of the existing VPP token or 2) Create a new VPP token with country/region by selecting the app country.
I would prefer option 2) by creating a new VPP token.
Before creating a new VPP token, you would need to generate a token file and import it.
Now create a new VPP Token and choose the VPP token file and this time choose the country/region as the country where the app is limited to use.
Once the VPP token is created, sync the token and wait for a couple of minutes to see the app in the Intune Apps node.
Now you can assign the app to group of users/devices.
I hope you find this article useful!