Product Information
June 2022: SAP Mobile Start brings Android version and much more
The latest release of SAP Mobile Start comes with lot of new features; an Android version of the app being one of the highlights. In this blog, I am happy to provide some insights on the enhancements and new features.
So, what`s new?
The focus of our development has been to
- offer an Android version of SAP Mobile Start,
- offer an easy app configuration via app config (MDM support),
- update the app (Apple iOS and Android) design to the new visual theme Horizon, and
- further enhance notification and task handling.
So, let’s jump in.
Android App
With SAP Mobile Start for Android, we deliver the first app for phones and tablets with a user experience (SAP Fiori for Android) optimised for Google’s mobile OS. The app comes with almost the same features as the iOS version, and the team is working hard to close minor gaps within the next releases.
SAP Mobile Start is available for Android 8 and above and has been tested on various devices, including Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets. Based on our testing we expect a broad compatibility across supported Android devices, we are looking forward to your feedback. Please have a look at the following blog for more details: SAP Mobile Start for Android is available today
Android Version
New visual theme: Horizon
When SAP Mobile Start was launched in August 2021, it was the mobile frontrunner app that introduced the brand-new visual Horizon theme. Now, that the Horizon theme has been established, and is receiving great user feedback, we have updated the app completely to the new visual theme.
Both, the app version for Android as well as iOS, spot a fresh and clean look that you will certainly enjoy.
Even if your company has not yet implemented and rolled-out SAP Mobile Start, you can download the app from the app-stores right away and play around with it thanks to the built-in demo mode. Please have a look at the following blog if you are interested in further details on SAP Fiori for Android & iOS: An all-new user experience for enterprise-ready mobile applications.
New Horizon theme
New Notification Center and Notification Enhancements
We have continued to invest in notifications, which is a key feature for many of our users. With the new release, you will see notifications within a dedicated Notification Center – accessible from all main screens of the app. This will help you to better manage the notifications and will be consistent with the experience you know from SAP Launchpad service. The notification list will be updated automatically, whenever a new push notification arrives, and an indicator on the notification list will inform you if a notification has already been read or if it is new. You can take actions directly on the notification list or from the details.
Notification Center
Tasks on Start Screen
With the integration of the SAP Task Center Service end of last year, SAP Mobile Start provides a consolidated list of tasks that are federated from various backends to you, to ensure that you can work and execute on your critical task while being mobile.
With our new release, we took the next step and have made the latest tasks available directly on the Start Screen to ensure that you do not miss any task. You get them right on top of the Start Screen when you launch the app, can navigate directly into the respective details, and take actions.
Remark: this feature got released only for iOS and is planned for one of the next Android versions.
A complete list of all open tasks is available within the To Do Screen for the iOS as well as for the Android version. On the To Do Screen itself, we also did some small user experience enhancements – check if you can find them.
Tasks on Start Screen
Mobile Device Management (MDM) Support
The new version of the app provides configuration support, following the App Config Community standard (www.appconfig.org). Customers can apply app configuration via common MDMs to SAP Mobile Start and allow an even smoother onboarding experience without the need to scan a QR code. This is particularly interesting for users who do not use any desktop software at all, as they are mobile all the time. Please have a look at the following blog for more details on the topic: Simplify the onboarding of SAP Mobile Start with managed app configuration by MDM
When is the release available?
SAP Mobile Start iOS 1.3 and SAP Mobile Start Android 1.0 are available now. The application is publicly available in the respective app stores and includes an offline demo mode.
App Stores
Please also check out our recently released road map to learn more about our future plans.
Post your questions or feedback about SAP Mobile Start in the Q&A area. Start by visiting your SAP Mobile Applications community page and click “follow”. We’ll be publishing more informative blog posts. Want to be notified? Check your profile settings to ensure you have your settings activated.
Great to see the addition of Android support as well as support for MDM.
Nice! but generally, SAP out-of-the-box applications are not tailor-made for every customer. Just wondering if there are provisions to do enhancements to these Mobile applications.
Hello Abhay,
Definitely, you can use custom or extended UI5 applications. For example, our My inbox application, which is currently deployed, is an extension of the SAP standard and it works excellent in SAP Mobile Start and other entirely custom-made ones.
Feel free to ping me if you have any questions
Luis Eusa.
So, we can deploy our own UI5 applications onto this platform (SAPUI5 or Fiori Elements)?
In addition, we developed a couple of Fiori Launchpad Plugins for our existing launchpad. Can these be integrated onto SAP Mobile Start?
Finally, the Android version is here! I have been able to install it and so far no issues. Great work SAP!
Fantastic effort by the SAP Mobile Product Management Team to bring both iOS and Android versions of the app with the MDM capability. This is going to be a great mobile solution for customers to adapt for mobile workforce.
Hello Thilo,
Thank you for sharing useful information!
My customer is interested in SAP mobile start because they'd like to approve POs from their android mobile device. But they are concerning if SAP mobile start is available for their S4HC environment that they limit S4HC access from external network by IP address range on IAS settings. Is SAP mobile start available for the customer like this?
Arata
Hi Arata,
thanks for your question. SAP Mobile Start certainly supports SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
If the users can access the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system from their mobile phones today, then it should also with with SAP Mobile Start.
I suggest we do a quick call on this interesting topic to discuss it in details. Could you please send me 2 time slots next week that would work for you.
Thanks, Thilo
Thilo.Berndt@sap.com.
Hi thilo,
Does SAP Mobile Start support S4 Hana On Prem approvals in My Inbox app? If so how does the integration works is it via BTP? If you can share details on how to deploy mobile start in your landscape that would really help.
Thanks.
Dear Husain Dahodwala,
you can find an answer to this in an answer provided by a colleague to a very similar question under another blog post focussing SAP Task Center.
More information about SAP Mobile Start and Task Center can be found either here on the SAP Community within multiple different blog posts, or in the Documentation provided on SAP Help.
Kind regards,
Thomas