Background

Nexus Smart ID Desktop App (V1), also referred to as PDA or SDA, was originally designed and built for compatibility with Microsoft Store for Business to allow for modern and convenient build, release and roll-out processes, as well as for being a MSI-based installer package for more traditional software distribution, hence a decision was taken to build the app on the Microsoft UWP (Universal Windows Platform) framework.

The hybrid installation model of both Microsoft Store and traditional MSI based on UWP in the end turned out to be extremely complicated to develop, manage and maintain. The UWP framework with its heavy sandboxing model also creates many obstacles and complications for further development of the product.

Additionally, the installation model (installation, uninstallation, affected folders and their structure, registry settings and so forth) of the UWP-based Smart ID Desktop App V1 is to a large extent managed by the Windows Operating system and related UWP/APPX modules without any control of the Nexus development team. From version Smart ID Desktop App 1.12 it became impossible to distribute the App as MSI why an EXE installer had to be provided instead which itself has a low acceptance level on the market.

The final conclusion Nexus product team draw from the situation with the UWP-based model end of 2023 is that keeping developing and maintaining Desktop App in its original UWP-based model is not any longer sustainable considering planned future functionality and a decision was taken to move in a new direction with the software.

Smart ID Desktop App V2

The target of Smart ID Desktop App V2 is to address the issues mentioned in the Background section above where the overarching requirements are briefly summarized below:

• Should be distributed, installed and uninstalled as MSI-only

• Should easily be integrated with IT software distribution tools like Intune

• Installation process should be under the full control of Nexus development team.

• Should be supported on Windows 10 (1809 and forward) and Windows 11

• Should support migration from V1 installations and installed VSC’s

• Should not be based on heavy sandboxing.

For Smart ID Desktop App V2 Nexus took the decision to instead go with the Windows App SDK framework which has proved to be a huge improvements both in general and also specifically addressing the high-level requirements as laid out above.

Additionally to switching underlying software framework, major investments have been put down in overall refactoring, testing and code quality throughout the whole code base.

Dropped and revised features

Nexus product- and development team has as part of refactoring the code base removed features that was never used in production. Nexus will silently remove any references to these features from the online documentation.

Significant features intentionally removed:

• Narration (screen reader) as part of Accessibility requirements. This is planned to be implemented sometime after the first public release according to product roadmap.

• Key Renewal for Virtual Smart Cards. This is planned to be re-implemented based on existing implementation for mobile VSC to better align Smart ID use-cases and API's. To mitigate this while waiting for the proper Key Renewal feature, the Deletion and (Re-)provisioning processes of Smart ID can be used.

Feature intentionally revised:

• Hybrid Profile concept, which was originally designed to be able to fall back from any storage type to any storage type in multiple steps, has been limited to only offer fallback from storage type VSC to storage type OS.

New features

Smart ID Desktop App V2 generally does not come with new features. However, there is now official support to run Smart ID Desktop App as a front-end to a defined set of external middleware’s and smart cards for online authentication, online signing and local PIN change. See Features of Smart ID Desktop App for more information.

The app is from V2 also fully self-contained and autonomous in terms of managing VSC/TPM-slot life-cycle meaning that the app both creates and deletes those without any need for additional scripts and similar.

Upgrade from Smart ID Desktop App V1

Smart ID Desktop App supports automatic migration of existing settings and installed VSC and tokens from version 1.12. Contact Nexus support for migration from older versions.

For more information on installation and upgrade, see Install and upgrade Smart ID Desktop App.

Contact and support

For information regarding support, training, and other services in your area, visit http://www.nexusgroup.com/ . Nexus offers maintenance and support services for Smart ID Desktop App to customers and partners.

For more information, go to Nexus Technical Support or contact your local sales representative.