Microsoft just added more reasons to use the Edge browser on iOS and Android mobile devices. The browser now supports single sign-on (SSO) and conditional access, which are important security, management, and convenience features for businesses .
Integrating Edge into the broader enterprise ecosystem – using Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) SSO for example – may be Microsoft's best move to push its most important customers to adopt the browser.
Edge usage on mobile devices is very low. According to Net Applications, Edge represents just six hundredths of a percentage point, or more than 1,000 times less than Google's Chrome.
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Edge users can now use web apps with Azure AD without having to re-enter their credentials. Once signed in to the device, they can access all other connected apps in Azure without further authentication.
Edge can replace the clunky Intune Managed Browser, streamlining access to web apps. It's also a way to push Edge to enterprise users.
Specific conditions
More important to the organization than SSO, is the conditional access support that has been given to Edge, according to the company. “Now you can enforce Microsoft Edge as the approved mobile browser for accessing Azure-connected web apps, limiting the use of unprotected browsers like Safari or Chrome.”.
“Conditional access” is the term used to refer to a set of IT policies that define which devices, from where, and under what specific circumstances, can access an organization’s web applications. Rather than relying solely on username and password authentication, conditional access can examine a wide range of conditions that must be met before allowing a user to leverage company data.
It's also something Microsoft can use to get more enterprise users to Edge.
Late last year, Microsoft said it would reorient Edge, ditching its own rendering and JavaScript engines and replacing them with those from the open-source Chromium project, which powers Chrome. Although Edge for Android uses Chromium components, Apple's App Store requirements will force Edge on iOS to continue using Safari's rendering and JavaScript engines.
