Microsoft’s August 2025 Intune update materially expands the platform’s security controls and enrollment ergonomics, delivering four headline features—granular App Control targeting, automatic patching during device setup, near‑real‑time Apple software update visibility via Declarative Device Management (DDM), and multi‑administrator approval workflows—that together tighten Zero Trust posture while smoothing first‑day device reliability for end users.
Organizations have been wrestling with two parallel problems for years: keeping endpoints secure immediately after provisioning, and preventing mistakes (or compromises) by high‑privilege administrators. Microsoft’s August service update for Intune (service release 2508) responds to both challenges by bringing operational controls closer to day‑one device state and adding governance around sensitive tenant changes. These additions arrive against the backdrop of Apple’s migration to Declarative Device Management (DDM) and Microsoft’s phased improvements to Autopilot/OOBE update behavior—context that shapes how IT should plan for policy, imaging, and operational shifts. (learn.microsoft.com, techcommunity.microsoft.com)
Key operational benefits:
Practical examples of protected actions:
These changes are not risk‑free. App Control and automated OOBE updates demand careful pilot planning; multi‑admin approval introduces workflow latency that must be reconciled with business continuity needs; and Apple’s DDM transition requires active migration work. Nevertheless, for organizations prepared to pilot, measure, and iterate, the August update gives actionable tools to reduce attack surface and improve first‑day reliability across heterogeneous fleets. (learn.microsoft.com, techcommunity.microsoft.com)
Intune administrators should treat this release as a near‑term priority: triage pilot cohorts, validate key telemetry, and update operational runbooks to incorporate approval workflows and OOBE timing changes—actions that will pay off in lower risk and fewer support incidents as these features mature in production.
Source: Windows Report Microsoft Intune August 2025 Update Brings Smarter Controls
Background
Organizations have been wrestling with two parallel problems for years: keeping endpoints secure immediately after provisioning, and preventing mistakes (or compromises) by high‑privilege administrators. Microsoft’s August service update for Intune (service release 2508) responds to both challenges by bringing operational controls closer to day‑one device state and adding governance around sensitive tenant changes. These additions arrive against the backdrop of Apple’s migration to Declarative Device Management (DDM) and Microsoft’s phased improvements to Autopilot/OOBE update behavior—context that shapes how IT should plan for policy, imaging, and operational shifts. (learn.microsoft.com, techcommunity.microsoft.com)What’s new in this release — executive summary
- App Control for Business: expanded controls and a simplified setup path for app allow/block policies with more flexible targeting options (moving beyond tenant‑wide configurations in earlier previews). Administrators gain built‑in policy controls and supplemental‑policy workflows to expand trust scopes.
- Automatic patching during device setup (OOBE/Autopilot): Windows quality updates can be applied during the out‑of‑box experience so that devices arrive on day one already patched, and Intune introduces an Enrollment Status Page (ESP) control to manage whether updates install during provisioning. Existing deferral and pause policies remain respected. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, app.cloudscout.one)
- Real‑time Apple update visibility (DDM): Intune now surfaces near‑real‑time status for Apple device updates by leveraging Apple’s Declarative Device Management, offering per‑device progress, failure reporting, and improved operational telemetry—critical as Apple phases out legacy MDM update APIs. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, learn.microsoft.com)
- Multi‑admin approval (MAA): Administrators can require a second sign‑off for sensitive actions—role and scope‑tag changes, app deployments, scripts, and device wipes/retire operations—reducing blast radius from mistakes or compromised admin accounts. The feature is delivered through Access Policies and an approval workflow in the Intune admin center.
Deep dive: App Control for Business — what changed and why it matters
From preview rigidity to targeted enforcement
App Control for Business is Microsoft’s Intune‑facing implementation of Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) constructs designed to restrict which binaries can execute on managed endpoints. Historically, early App Control experiences required tenant‑wide managed‑installer configuration or demanded complex XML policies; this made pilot rollouts risky for large fleets. The latest release adds intuitive built‑in controls and assignment flexibility that let administrators apply policies to groups instead of only to an entire tenant, and to layer supplemental policies for fine‑grained trust expansions.Key operational benefits:
- Reduced blast radius: assign App Control to pilot groups, test in Audit mode, then enforce more widely.
- Policy simplicity: built‑in toggles remove the need to author raw WDAC XML for many common patterns.
- Managed installer integration: Intune can tag apps installed via known installers to automatically treat them as trusted sources.
Caveats IT teams must test
- Audit and pilot thoroughly: App Control can surface a lot of noise in audit mode (DLL activity, driver interactions), and some customers reported system slowdowns when large cohorts received policies simultaneously. Treat App Control like any high‑impact security control: incremental rollout, telemetry monitoring, and rollback plans. (anoopcnair.com, reddit.com)
- Managed installer scope: setting a managed installer remains a tenant‑level action in some workflows; verify whether your selected managed‑installer approach supports the per‑group trust model you plan to use. The Intune docs describe scenarios where the managed installer is a one‑time configuration.
Deep dive: Autopatching during OOBE — better first‑day devices, with guardrails
What’s changing
Microsoft is enabling quality updates to be applied during the Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE) for Windows 11 devices enrolled with an MDM, so devices can be delivered to users already protected by the latest quality/security fixes. Intune’s Enrollment Status Page (ESP) will gain an "Install Windows updates" option that admins can use to control this behavior for Autopilot and enrollment flows. Microsoft emphasizes that feature updates and driver updates are excluded from OOBE installs and that existing Windows Update deferral/pause settings synchronize to the device. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, mc.merill.net)Why this matters
- User experience: reduces post‑enrollment restart storms and the frustration of “first‑day reboots.”
- Security posture: ensures endpoints begin life with the latest critical patches applied, lowering exposure immediately after provisioning.
- Operational predictability: syncs Intune policies (deferrals, pause windows) into the OOBE flow to maintain centralized patch governance. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, patchtuesday.com)
Implementation risks and mitigation
- Enrollment time variability — applying updates during OOBE can increase provisioning time. Plan for longer enrollment windows and adjust Temporary Access Password lifetimes or helpdesk scripts accordingly.
- Network bandwidth impact — mass provisioning events could saturate WAN links; leverage Connected Cache or local content caching where available.
- Control and audit — validate which quality updates Microsoft exposes in OOBE and build pilot cohorts to monitor compatibility with critical apps before full deployment. Track enrollment telemetry from pilot groups for at least a week. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, patchtuesday.com)
Deep dive: Apple update visibility via Declarative Device Management (DDM)
The platform change
Apple announced deprecation of legacy MDM software update APIs and is moving update management to Declarative Device Management (DDM), where devices proactively report update status and progress to the MDM. Intune has embraced this model: DDM‑based software update reports now surface near‑real‑time per‑device progress, installation statuses, and failure diagnostics—valuable for debugging install failures or user‑initiated deferrals. Microsoft’s Intune team has published guidance and has been rolling DDM settings into the Settings Catalog alongside telemetry reports. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, learn.microsoft.com)Operational advantages
- Real‑time troubleshooting: identify failed downloads or stalled installs immediately and triage with precise failure codes rather than relying on delayed or aggregated reports.
- Better user communication: surface status to service desks so they can give accurate ETA and remediation steps.
- Futureproofing: moving to DDM is mandatory for compatibility with Apple OS 26+ devices once legacy MDM updates are decommissioned. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, azurefeeds.com)
Migration guidance and risk notes
- Start creating DDM update policies in the Intune Settings Catalog now; Microsoft has flagged legacy MDM update features as deprecated and is publishing replacement settings. Test DDM policies on a subset of iOS/macOS devices before broad enforcement. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, learn.microsoft.com)
- Expect discrepancies early on: device firmware variants, network conditions, or App Store rate limits can still cause device‑side failures that only the device can resolve. Intune’s device‑reported DDM statuses will help, but a small number of edge cases will require vendor cooperation or device reboots.
Deep dive: Multi‑admin approval — governance for high‑risk operations
How it works
Intune’s Multi‑Admin Approval (MAA) is implemented through Access Policies that protect specific resource types (Apps, Scripts, Access Policies themselves). When a protected resource is changed, the change is recorded as a request and must be approved by an administrator in the configured approver group before the change is applied. The feature requires at least two separate admin accounts and logs approvals and reviewer notes in the Intune admin center.Practical examples of protected actions:
- Deploying or modifying app assignments.
- Creating or editing scripts pushed to Windows endpoints.
- Changing role or scope tags that alter admin privileges or device visibility.
Benefits
- Reduced human error risk: prevents a single mistaken click from wiping devices or changing role scopes at scale.
- Mitigates compromised admin accounts: a lone compromised admin cannot immediately make destructive changes.
- Auditability: adds approver notes and a visible request trail to Intune audit logs for compliance and incident investigation.
Operational considerations
- Workflow slowdowns: MAA introduces human approval latency; identify critical workflows that may need fast‑path exceptions (but keep exceptions minimal).
- Approver availability: create clear on‑call rotation for approvers to prevent blocked requests from stalling critical work.
- Notification gaps: Intune currently doesn’t automatically notify approvers of pending requests; teams must rely on operational playbooks or integrate custom alerting.
Implementation checklist — practical steps to adopt the August 2025 Intune changes
- Inventory current enrollment and update policies; identify pilot groups for OOBE quality update testing and for App Control policies.
- Enable DDM settings for Apple devices in a small test cohort and verify per‑device software update reporting before scaling. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, learn.microsoft.com)
- Configure a Multi‑Admin Approval access policy protecting one low‑risk resource (e.g., a single App assignment) to learn the approver lifecycle and measure approval latency.
- Create App Control pilot policies in Audit mode using built‑in controls; monitor audit logs and endpoint performance, then iterate rules and supplemental policies.
- Adjust Autopilot/ESP templates to include the new “Install Windows updates” setting if you plan to enable quality updates during OOBE; run full end‑to‑end enrollment tests with temporary password lifetimes extended. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, mc.merill.net)
Strengths, gaps, and risks — critical analysis
Notable strengths
- Alignment with Zero Trust principles: App Control and MAA significantly tighten execution and administrative control; both are meaningful moves toward least‑privilege and defense‑in‑depth.
- Operational improvements for day‑one security: applying quality updates during OOBE reduces exposure windows and lowers helpdesk tickets related to immediate post‑provisioning reboots.
- Real‑time Apple reporting reduces troubleshooting time: DDM answers a long‑standing pain point for macOS/iOS teams by surfacing device‑reported progress and failure codes.
Remaining gaps and risks
- Rollout and labeling inconsistencies: some Intune UI elements and documentation still carry “Preview” labels for App Control flows; tenants may see feature visibility vary by cloud region or rollout wave. Verify feature flags in your tenant and plan for phased adoption. This claim should be validated in each tenant before broad enforcement.
- Human process friction: Multi‑admin approval is effective but can slow urgent actions. Organizations will need playbooks to handle emergency authorizations without undermining the control model.
- Network and provisioning load: enabling OOBE updates across large fleets can strain bandwidth and increase provisioning time; caching (Connected Cache) and staged pilots are required to avoid mass‑provisioning outages.
- Third‑party app compatibility: App Control and App Allow lists may interact unpredictably with legacy or bespoke applications; plan compatibility testing and maintain rollback/recovery procedures.
What administrators should prioritize this quarter
- Create an Intune pilot plan that couples App Control audits with application compatibility testing, and designate a rollback team to react to any production issues.
- Test OOBE update behavior with a remote device cohort and adjust enrollment timing policies and temporary credential lifetimes to accommodate longer provisioning windows.
- Move Apple update policies to DDM immediately for devices that can support it; use per‑device reports to reduce mean‑time‑to‑repair for update failures. (techcommunity.microsoft.com, learn.microsoft.com)
- Roll out Multi‑Admin Approval for moderate‑risk resources first, measure approval latency, then expand protections to high‑risk resource types as the team matures.
Final assessment
The August 2025 Intune service release marks a pragmatic evolution: Microsoft is blending governance and automation to make endpoints both safer and more usable from day one. The four headline capabilities—targeted App Control, OOBE patch installation, DDM‑based Apple update telemetry, and multi‑admin approval—address persistent operational pain points and raise the bar for administrative security.These changes are not risk‑free. App Control and automated OOBE updates demand careful pilot planning; multi‑admin approval introduces workflow latency that must be reconciled with business continuity needs; and Apple’s DDM transition requires active migration work. Nevertheless, for organizations prepared to pilot, measure, and iterate, the August update gives actionable tools to reduce attack surface and improve first‑day reliability across heterogeneous fleets. (learn.microsoft.com, techcommunity.microsoft.com)
Intune administrators should treat this release as a near‑term priority: triage pilot cohorts, validate key telemetry, and update operational runbooks to incorporate approval workflows and OOBE timing changes—actions that will pay off in lower risk and fewer support incidents as these features mature in production.
Source: Windows Report Microsoft Intune August 2025 Update Brings Smarter Controls
