Hide the Fleet desktop icon

[zayhanlon]

• customer-starchik: Gong snippet: https://us-65885.app.gong.io/call?id=7207702073596767638&highlights=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22SHARE%22%2C%22from%22%3A482%2C%22to%22%3A734%7D%5D
• customer-preston: Gong snippet: https://us-65885.app.gong.io/call?id=6157215866679104856&highlights=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22SHARE%22%2C%22from%22%3A835%2C%22to%22%3A911%7D%5D
• customer-honoria: Gong snippet: https://us-65885.app.gong.io/call?id=1808148322101107741&highlights=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22SHARE%22%2C%22from%22%3A1382%2C%22to%22%3A1419%7D%5D
• customer-nortia: Gong snippet: https://us-65885.app.gong.io/call?id=3659970139851900100&highlights=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22SHARE%22%2C%22from%22%3A1260%2C%22to%22%3A1354%7D%5D
• customer-figali: Gong snippet: https://us-65885.app.gong.io/call?id=970685218734495850&highlights=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22SHARE%22%2C%22from%22%3A805%2C%22to%22%3A1040%7D%5D
• @noahtalerman: nortia requested this because they want to give their end users the best experience which they believe is decluttering the menu bar. We think they might start using Fleet Desktop for self-remediation of policy failures. To provide the best experience, they want to only show the icon in the menu bar if there's some action the end user needs to take.
  • @noahtalerman: In the interim nortia can setup some automation to show/hide the icon via a script.
  • @noahtalerman: Eventually Fleet could provide the option to only show the Fleet icon if the end user is failing policies.
    • @allenhouchins: Or self-service software.
• @noahtalerman: figali requested this because they heard from a couple end users that the menu bar is getting crowded. They want a convenient way to hide the Fleet icon so they can provide their end users the best experience.
  • @noahtalerman: In the interim (see above)
  • @noahtalerman: Eventually Fleet might add an option to hide the Fleet icon always.

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[noahtalerman]

Feature fest: This is core to Fleet (flexibility) but I don't think we have the resources to take it on. Please bring it back for consideration next FF

[noahtalerman]

Heads up @zayhanlon this request was discussed during feature fest last week and didn't make it into the current design sprint.

[nonpunctual]

@pintomi1989 @noahtalerman So, from Martin's video https://app.claap.io/primo/removing-fleet-dm-icon-c-taFW92KgJO-9q5fEXOsTqAV it appears that currently if a user holds COMMAND & then clicks on & drags the Fleet menu bar item down to remove it, the daemon that keeps the Fleet app alive is making the menu bar item reappear. I think we should consider (rather than add a server-side feature to set this) following typical app behavior.

Per the  Human Interface Guidelines:

Let people — not your app — decide whether to put your menu bar extra in the menu bar. Typically, people add a menu bar extra to the menu bar by changing a setting in an app’s settings window. To ensure discoverability, however, consider giving people the option of doing so during setup.

https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/the-menu-bar

Thanks.

[martinpannier]

Of course, this goes back to what would happen if the device is failing a policy — given that the only way to be notified and to remedy it as an end-user is to open the Fleet agent. An option, adopted by other MDMs, would be to be able to access the Fleet agent as an app (not only as a menu bar item).

[kesh-stripe]

We are also interested in this feature - and was wondering if there are any updates on it. We have users complaining that we are taking up too much of the taskbar space when their machine is passing all policies. This suggestion listed above would work well:

Request that fleet add a feature where the menubar icon is only shown when a device is failing at least 1 policy. (top choice)

[nonpunctual]

@noahtalerman @marko-lisica @zayhanlon please see: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/the-menu-bar/#Menu-bar-extras

Let people — not your app — decide whether to put your menu bar extra in the menu bar... Avoid relying on the presence of menu bar extras.

Fleet Desktop is an app. Fleet should engineer it to be configurable & Fleet server should stay out of how it behaves. It should up to the admin deploying Fleet Desktop how they want it configured for their users.

A Configuration Profile that has key / val for options could be deployed with Fleet Desktop:

fleet_desktop_bar_icon: value

where value is one of the following:

on (permanently installed on Menu Bar / Taskbar - this is the current behavior)
off (never installed visibly anywhere)
contextual (made visible by Fleet Desktop process that detects a failing policy)
removable (enabled as contextual at initial install, user can remove permanently)

[RachelElysia]

Might consider this other related customer request at the same time: #5579

[lukeheath]

How would the end user access their "My Device" page for software self service and to see failing policies?

[martinpannier]

All I can say is that we do regularly get the request. It could only display if failing policies OR self-service apps are enabled - customers would understand that.

[clintharrison]

Do we have consensus on what behavior we'd like here?

I sent a PR for the underlying systray library to partially unblock this feature: fyne-io/systray#82.

If we've got a clear description for when Fleet Desktop can hide itself, I'd be happy to try sending a PR myself.
Thanks!

[Patagonia121]

@noahtalerman I added a Gong snippet to this issue so you can hear the reasoning for wanting to hide Fleet Desktop at customer-nortia

[Patagonia121]

@noahtalerman I also attached another Gong snippet as customer-figali shared that some of their end users also asked if there was a way to hide Fleet desktop unless there was a failed policy or some type of action they'd have to take on their machine. I will say that it's a lower level as only a handful of end users gave that feedback. Thanks!

[noahtalerman]

Problem

We have some internal users who are worried about the Fleet Desktop menubar item taking up space on their limited macOS menubar space (especially on the macbooks with notches). I'm trying to find options / workarounds. Today, there are no Fleet provided options to hide this icon.

Providing a solution to this problem would have a positive effect on the end user experience of having Fleet desktop installed on their machine / remove the requirement from some users for us to uninstall Fleet desktop.

Potential solutions

A few that we've been able to come up with are:

1. Request that fleet add a feature where the menubar icon is only shown when a device is failing at least 1 policy. (top choice)
2. Remove fleet desktop all together and send users directly to their my device page from our custom error page (We are using the API to pull current policy state and deny access to internal websites). This is a bit complicated due to the constantly changing ID in /device/<device_id>, and we'd need to figure out how to get an up to date URL via the API
   Can Fleet provide another suggestion?

[noahtalerman]

Hey @Patagonia121 and @pintomi1989 can you please add Gong snippets for honoria, starchik, and preston?

[pintomi1989]

Hey @noahtalerman

This request is so old for customer-preston that I'm not totally sure it's still needed. I'm going to find the original clip, but I will also touch base with them during our next session and see if it is still relevant.

[pintomi1989]

customer-preston statement: https://us-65885.app.gong.io/call?id=6157215866679104856&highlights=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22SHARE%22%2C%22from%22%3A835%2C%22to%22%3A911%7D%5D

[pintomi1989]

customer-honoria statement: https://us-65885.app.gong.io/call?id=1808148322101107741&highlights=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22SHARE%22%2C%22from%22%3A1382%2C%22to%22%3A1419%7D%5D

[Patagonia121]

@noahtalerman I added the Gong snippet for customer-starchik. Let me know if you need anything else, thanks!

[martinpannier]

Hey @noahtalerman

This request is so old for customer-preston that I'm not totally sure it's still needed. I'm going to find the original clip, but I will also touch base with them during our next session and see if it is still relevant.

Definitely not high on the prio list for us 🙌