What's new in CD Updates

Interim fixes and CD Updates provide patches and updates to correct problems and keep IBM Mobile Foundation current for new releases of mobile operating systems. CD Updates also enhance the functionality of the product by introducing new features.

Interim fixes and CD Updates are cumulative. When you download the latest v8.0 interim fix or CD Update, you get all of the fixes and features from earlier interim fixes and CD Updates.

Download and install the latest CD Update to obtain all of the features that are described in the following sections.

For a list of iFix releases of Mobile Foundation 8.0, see here.

Features included with CD Update 7 (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF202008201003-CDUpdate-07)

Live Update

Live Update service is now available for Mobile Foundation on-premise

Live Update feature in Mobile Foundation provides a simple way to define and serve different configurations for users of an application. This is now available as a service that can be installed on-premise. For more details, see here.

Analytics

Analytics Receiver is now available for Mobile Foundation on-premise

Analytics Receiver is an optional service that can be set up to receive event logs from mobile applications and forward them to Analytics in a phased manner using an in-memory event queue. This is now available as a service that can be installed on-premise. Analytics Receiver component can now be installed using Installation Manager. For more details, see here.

Custom Chart Filter tab in Mobile Analytics

The Custom Chart Filter tab in Mobile Analytics console has now been enhanced to allow users to optionally search for custom property values instead of choosing from a drop-down list of values. This is particularly useful when there is a vast variety of property values to choose from for a given property.

OAuth implementation for Analytics Receiver

Additional Analytics Receiver configurations are introduced to implement OAuth, such as receiver.authorization.server.url, receiver.authorization.client.id and receiver.authorization.client.secret. For more details, see here.

Server

Introducing API Connector

Secure invocation of microservices through Mobile Foundation is now possible without using adapters by using API Connector. To learn more about API Connector, see here.

Deploying Mobile Analytics across multiple OpenShift nodes

Multi-node discovery now allows for Mobile Analytics to be deployed across multiple OpenShift nodes.

Support for FCM v19 and above

The iFix IF202006021507 adds support for Firebase Cloud Messaging SDK v19 and above.

Node.js based odo component for Microservice integration

The iFix IF202006021507 introduces a Node.js based odo custom component. Developers can use this component to develop backend for frontend (BFF) or backend microservices that integrate with Mobile Foundation services on Red Hat OpenShift. For more information about the odo component, see here.

Updates to Tekton pipelines

The Mobile Foundation tekton pipelines shipped as part of Cloud Pak For Apps has now been enhanced to parameterize the inputs. A new pipeline for testing mobile apps with Bitbar has been added. For more information, see here.

React Native SDKs for Live Update

This iFix introduces React Native SDKs for the Live Update service. The React Native SDKs are published on npm. For more information about Live Update, see here. You can find the API reference for the new SDK here.

DevKit for MacOS is now available as a zip file

DevKit for MacOS is now available as a zip file. To install, you only need to download and unzip the file. Run the DevKit from the extracted folder. There is no installation required.

Web Push Notifications

Support for Web Push Notifications. Learn more about sending notifications to web platforms.

Update to use WKWebView

Model Update and Direct Update has been updated to use WKWebView instead of the deprecated UIWebView in compliance with the Apple App Store guidelines.

Adapter grouping

Support for adapter grouping. Adapter grouping feature enables you to group resource adapters and run them on a set of Mobile Foundation nodes. The adapter group can be scaled by adding more nodes to the group, based on the adapter load. Learn more.

Tekton pipelines for automating common DevOps tasks

Mobile Foundation in Cloud Pak for Apps is now bundled with Tekton pipelines for automating common DevOps tasks. Learn more.

DB2 11.1 software bundle update for Mobile Foundation V8.0

Mobile Foundation v8.0 currently provides DB2 10.5, which is going out of support on April 30th, 2020. To continue the support for DB2, we are updating the license to DB2 11.1, which is available as part of the iFix IF201911181126. Customers can log in to Passport Advantage using their IBM credentials and download the DB2 11.1 software bundle. Along with this update, we are also providing DB2 Advanced Workgroup Server Edition 11.1 for Z environment and DB2 OEM High Capacity Add on 11.1 for customers who want more hardware capacity to run their database workloads. You can read about the functionality of DB2 servers here and follow the documentation for upgrading to DB2 11.1.

Deprecations in CD Update 7 (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF202008201003-CDUpdate-07)

Below is the list of deprecations in this CD update.

Support for the following platforms/OS/dependencies will be deprecated in this CD Update (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF202008201003-CDUpdate-07) and will NOT be supported after 31 Dec, 2020.

Note: The following list is exclusive of the version mentioned, for example,deprecation of versions older than iOS 11 will mean iOS 11 will be supported but not iOS 10.x

iOS

• Support for iOS versions prior to iOS 11 is deprecated.
• Support for XCode version prior to 10.2 is deprecated.

Android

Minimum supported API level of Android is API 21 / Android 5.0 /Lollipop.

Windows

Deprecating support for all versions of Windows and Windows mobile except Windows UWP.

Cordova

Deprecating support for versions of Cordova below,

• cordova-ios@5.x +
• cordova-android@8.x +

Ionic

Deprecating support for all versions of Ionic below Ionic 3.

mfpdev and mfpmigrate CLI

Deprecating support for versions of Node.js below 8.0.

Features included with CD update 6 (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201911050809-CDUpdate-06)

Server

Performance Improvements

Optimized Mobile Foundation database operations and introduced automated purging of records database.

Application Center now available inside DevKit

Application Center is now available as a package with DevKit. This enables developers to build apps and publish them to the private store, which is now available as part of the DevKit.

Stack support for vendor software

Mobile Foundation now supports Windows Server 2016 SE and Oracle 18c.

Support for application development frameworks

Mobile Foundation supports the latest frameworks released by Apple and Google with support for iOS 13, iPadOS and Android 10. The platform also provides an SDK for Swift 5.

Connect securely to backend apps using an API Proxy

When connecting to the enterprise backend, it is possible to leverage the security and analytics of Mobile Foundation platform using the API Proxy. API Proxy proxies the requests to the actual backend. Learn more.

Analytics

In-App Feedback

The in-app feedback feature was earlier available in the Mobile Foundation service on IBM Cloud and has now been ported to the on-prem and container distribution of Mobile Foundation. Using this feature users can share feedback from the app in the form of screen shots, annotations and text. An administrator can login to the analytics console to view the feedback received and take necessary action.

OpenShift package

Mobile Foundation is part of IBM Cloud Pak for Applications v3

Mobile Foundation is now available as part of IBM Cloud Pak for Apps and supports Red Hat Open Shift 3.11 and Red Hat Open Shift 4.2. The services currently available are mobile core, analytics, push notifications and app center. Using this capability developers can build cloud native applications using backend microservices and mobile services.

Features included with CD update 5 (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201903190949-CDUpdate-05)

CoreML Update

ML (Machine Learning) models can be executed locally on the iOS mobile device using Apple’s CoreML framework. Mobile Foundation provides the ability to manage the distribution of these models to devices securely. Learn more.

App Authenticity for watchOS

App Authenticity is a security feature, which validates the authenticity of the application before providing access. This feature was available for mobile apps. The feature is now extended for Apple WatchOS apps. Learn more.

Push Notifications - Additional message features and attributes for FCM

Push Notifications now supports the following additional message attributes.

1. Lights
2. Styles (Inbox, BigText, PictureNotifications)

Features included with CD update 4 (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201812191602-CDUpdate-04)

HTTP/2 Support for APNs Push Notifications

Push Notifications in MobileFirst now supports the HTTP/2 based APNs Push Notifications along with the legacy TCP Socket based notifications. Learn more.

React Native Push SDK released

React Native SDK for Push (react-native-ibm-mobilefirst-push 1.0.0) is released with this CD Update.

Features introduced with CD update 3 (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201811050432-CDUpdate-03)

Support for refresh tokens on iOS

Mobile Foundation introduces the refresh token feature on iOS starting with this CD Update. Learn more.

Download admin CLI (mfpadm) from Mobile Foundation console

Mobile Foundation admin CLI (mfpadm) can now be downloaded from within the Download Center of the Mobile Foundation console.

Support for Node v8.x for MobileFirst CLI

Starting from this iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201810040631), Mobile Foundation adds support for Node v8.x for MobileFirst CLI.

Remove dependency on libstdc++ for Cordova projects

Starting with this iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201809041150), a change to remove libstdc++ as a dependency to Cordova projects is introduced. This is required for new apps running on iOS 12. For further details, such as a workaround, refer to this blog post.

Features introduced with CD update 2 (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201807180449-CDUpdate-02)

Support for React Native development

Starting with the CD Update (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201807180449-CDUpdate-02), Mobile Foundation announces the support for React Native development with the availability of IBM Mobile Foundation SDK for React Native apps. Learn more.

Automated synchronization of JSONStore collections with CouchDB databases for iOS and Cordova SDK

Starting with the CD Update (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201807180449-CDUpdate-02), using MobileFirst iOS SDK and Cordova SDK, you can automate the synchronization of data between a JSONStore Collection on a device with any flavour of CouchDB database, including Cloudant. For more information on this feature, read this blog post.

Introducing Refresh tokens

Starting with the CD Update (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201807180449-CDUpdate-02), Mobile Foundation now introduces special kind of tokens called Refresh tokens that can be used to request a new access token. Learn more.

Support for Cordova v8 and Cordova Android v7

Starting from this iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201804051553), MobileFirst Cordova plugins for Cordova v8 and Cordova Android v7 is supported. To work with the mentioned version of Cordova, you need to get the latest MobileFirst plugins and upgrade to the latest CLI (mfpdev-cli) version. For details on supported versions for individual platforms, refer to Adding the MobileFirst Foundation SDK to Cordova Applications.

Automated synchronization of JSONStore collections with CouchDB databases

Starting with this iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201802201451), using MobileFirst Android SDK, you can automate the synchronization of data between a JSONStore Collection on a device with any flavour of CouchDB database, including Cloudant. For more information on this feature, read this blog post.

Features introduced with CD update 1 (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201711230641-CDUpdate-01)

Support for Eclipse UI editor

Starting with CD Update 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201711230641-CDUpdate-01, WYSIWYG editor is now provided in MobileFirst Studio’s Eclipse. Developers can design and implement UI for their Cordova applications using this UI editor. Learn more.

New adapters for building cognitive apps

Starting with CD Update 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201711230641-CDUpdate-01, Mobile Foundation has introduced two new pre-built cognitive services adapters for the Watson Tone Analyzer and Language Translator services. These adapters are available to be downloaded and deployed from the Download Center in the Mobile Foundation Console.

Dynamic App Authenticity

Starting with iFix 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170220-1900, A new implementation of application authenticity is provided. This implementation does not require the offline mfp-app-authenticity tool for generating the .authenticity_data file. Instead, you can enable or disable application authenticity from the MobileFirst console. For more information see Configuring Application Authenticity.

Appcenter (client & server) support for Windows 10

Starting with iFix 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170327-1055, Windows 10 UWP apps are supported in IBM Application Center. The user can now upload Windows 10 UWP apps and install the same on their device. The Windows 10 UWP client project for installing the UWP app is now shipped with the Application Center. You can open the project in Visual Studio and create a binary (for example, .appx) for distribution. Application Center does not provide a predefined method of distributing the mobile client. For more information, see Microsoft Windows 10 Universal (Native) IBM AppCenter client.

MobileFirst Eclipse plugin support for Eclipse Neon

Starting with iFix 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170426-1210, MobileFirst Eclipse plugin is updated to support Eclipse Neon.

Android SDK modified to use a newer version of OkHttp (version 3.4.1)

Starting with iFix 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170605-2216, Android SDK has been modified to use a newer version of OkHttp (version 3.4.1) instead of the old version that was previously bundled with the MobileFirst SDK for Android. OkHttp is added as a dependency rather than being bundled with the SDK. This allows freedom of choice in using the OkHttp library for developers and also prevents conflicts with multiple versions of OkHttp.

Support for Cordova v7

Starting with iFix 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170608-0406, Cordova v7 is supported. For details on supported versions of individual platforms, refer to Adding the MobileFirst Foundation SDK to Cordova Applications.

Multiple certificate pinning support

Starting with iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170624-0159), Mobile Foundation supports pinning of multiple certificates. Earlier to this iFix, Mobile Foundation supported pinning of a single certificate. Mobile Foundation introduced a new API, which allows connection to multiple hosts by allowing the user to pin public keys of multiple X509 certificates to the client application. This feature is supported only for native Android and iOS apps. Learn more about Multiple certificate pinning support from What’s new, under the section What’s new in MobileFirst APIs.

Adapters for building a cognitive app

Starting with iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170710-1834), Mobile Foundation has introduced pre-built adapters for Watson cognitive services such as WatsonConversation, WatsonDiscovery, and WatsonNLU (Natural Language Understanding). These adapters are available to be downloaded and deployed from the Download Center in the Mobile Foundation Console.

Cloud Functions adapter for building a serverless app

Starting with iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170710-1834), Mobile Foundation introduced a pre-built adapter called Cloud Functions adapter for the Cloud Functions Platform. The adapter is available to be downloaded and deployed from the Download Center in the Mobile Foundation Console.

Support for pinning multiple certificates in the Cordova SDK

Starting with this iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170803-1112) pinning of multiple certificates is supported in the Cordova SDK. Read more on Multiple certificate pinning support from What’s new, under the section What’s new in MobileFirst APIs .

Support for Cordova browser platform

Starting with iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170823-1236), Mobile Foundation supports the Cordova browser platform along with the earlier supported platforms of Cordova Windows, Cordova Android, and Cordova iOS. Learn more.

Generate an adapter from its OpenAPI specification

Starting with iFix (8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF20170901-1903), Mobile Foundation introduced the capability to auto-generate an adapter from its OpenAPI specification. Mobile Foundation users can now focus on the application logic instead of creating the Mobile Foundation adapter, which connects the application to the desired back-end service. Learn more.

Support for iOS 11 and iPhone X

Starting with CD Update 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201711230641-CDUpdate-01, Mobile Foundation announced the support for iOS 11 and iPhone X on Mobile Foundation v8.0. For further details, read the blog post IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation Support for iOS 11 and iPhone X.

Support for Android Oreo

Starting with CD Update 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201711230641-CDUpdate-01, Mobile Foundation announced the support for Android Oreo with this blog post. Both native Android apps and hybrid/Cordova apps, built on older versions of Android, work as expected on Android Oreo when the device is upgraded through an OTA.

Mobile Foundation can now be deployed on Kubernetes clusters

Starting with CD Update 8.0.0.0-MFPF-IF201711230641-CDUpdate-01, Mobile Foundation user can now deploy Mobile Foundation, which includes the Mobile Foundation Server, Mobile Analytics Server, and the Application Center, on Kubernetes clusters. The deployment package has been updated to support Kubernetes deployment. Read the announcement.