Field Notes

Notes from the fleet

Short, practical write-ups on Apple management — the payloads, the gotchas, and the reasoning behind every builder on this site.

Software update · Field note

They removed the alternative: the macOS 27 change that isn't PPPC

macOS 27 removed the legacy software update commands, leaving declarative enforcement as the only path — and raises the TLS floor under all MDM traffic.

R Rob Flanagan · Jul 2026 · 3 min read

PPPC · Deep dive

The PPPC obituaries are early: what macOS 27 actually moved off the profile

macOS 27 adds declarative privacy config for seven permissions, but Full Disk Access and Screen Recording still need a PPPC profile. Where the line falls.

Rob Flanagan · Jul 2026 · 4 min

DDM · Deep dive

The management model changed under us: what macOS 27 moved to declarative

macOS 27 shifts much more Apple device management onto the declarative model — device health, credentials, network, VPN, and SSO — so your MDM polls far less.

Rob Flanagan · Jul 2026 · 3 min