macOS Jamf & MDM configurations

Switch your company’s search engine to Ecosia and help reforest the planet!

This guide explains how IT can configure Ecosia as the default search engine for macOS devices at a company, school or university. This guide focuses on Jamf as a device management platform but also provides guidance for other standard Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. 

Note: While the resources provided set Ecosia as a fixed default search engine, leveraging your organization’s self-service solution will provide end-users with the ability to switch away if this fits with your implementation strategy.


See: Jamf Pro Documentation 11.11.0 for more information.

If your organization is considering using Ecosia, let us know so we can support you through the process. We’re on hand to help!

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In this guide you will find:

Requirements

To carry out the steps below, this guide assumes the following requirements are already in place:

  • MDM Solution: An existing MDM solution already exists for the management of your workplace’s devices.
  • Technical Knowledge: Familiarity with.mobileconfig profiles and .plist files and how these are deployed to endpoints in your environment, as well as macOS device management
  • Optional: Reporting typetag (provided by us) for you to track your individual organization’s impact.

Your exact setup, configuration, and deployment methods may differ from convention. The below steps and resources are a guide only. Please test your chosen implementation before full deployment.

Jamf guide

Jamf Pro provides multiple methods for deploying Ecosia as the default search engine on managed macOS devices. It is recommended that you incorporate the guidance below into your organization's existing deployment workflow and strategy. 

The following guide is based on setting Ecosia as the default search engine in Google Chrome, however, the same applies to the other browsers listed in the Resources for Download section below. 

The optional steps of adding your unique typetag and being able to track your organization’s total searches and trees planted are covered in more detail in the Measure your impact section below. 

Step 1 - Create the configuration profile

  • Log in to Jamf Pro
  • Navigate to Computers > Configuration Profiles
  • Click New to create a new profile
  • In the General payload:
    • Provide a meaningful name (e.g., Ecosia Search in Google Chrome).
    • Set Level to User or Computer, based on the deployment scope
  • Set Distribution Method based on your deployment strategy

Self-Service option: If your organization leverages the Jamf self-service app you can:

  • Select Make available in Self Service for the Distribution Method
    • Set Allow Removal to Yes (this allows users to uninstall the profile via Self Service)
    • (optional) Choose Browsers as the category

Step 2 - Configure application & custom settings

  • Navigate to the Application & Custom Settings payload
  • Use the Upload feature to upload your property list (plist ) containing the settings for Ecosia as the default search provider in Chrome 

You’ll notice the placeholder tt=xxxxxxxx defined in the plist (see image below). If using a custom typetag you must replace xxxxxxxx with your organization’s custom typetag. You can do this with a text editor such as BBEdit

See Measure your impact section below for more info.

Preference Domain: com.google.Chrome

Property list (plist)

Step 3 - Define scope

  • Under the Scope tab, specify which devices or users should have access to this profile

Step 4 - Save and test

  • Save the configuration profile
  • Test deployment to ensure:
    • Deployment is successful
    • The configuration works as expected
  • Here you can define a pilot group of users or release the policy company-wide
  • If using self-service:
    • The profile appears for installation in the jamf self-service app
    • Users can remove it as desired

Using profiles in Jamf Pro: The above method is recommended, however, it is also possible to upload profiles to Jamf instead of using a plist file.

See: Deploying Custom Configuration Profiles

Additional resources

Other MDM solutions guide

The steps provided above for Jamf will apply to most conventional macOS MDM solutions such as:

If unsure, please consult the guidance of profile/settings deployment of your specific MDM solution. The steps detailed below are a general guide for profile deployment.

Most MDM solutions support bothplist and profile deployment. It is up to you to decide which method best fits with your deployment workflow. 

Step 1 - Download the profile or Plist

  • Download the required .mobileconfig profile from the Resources for Download section below.

Optional: Edit the profile

  • Open the .mobileconfig file in a profile editor such as iMazing Profile Editor or ProfileCreator
  • Locate the relevant URLs for the preference keys in the profile:
    • DefaultSearchProviderSearchURL 
    • DefaultSearchProviderNewTabURL
  • Modify the typetag

You’ll notice the placeholdertt=xxxxxxxx defined in the plist (see image below). If using a custom typetag you must replace xxxxxxxx with your organization’s custom typetag. You can do this with a text editor such as BBEdit

See Measure your impact section below for more info.

  • Save the file

Step 2 - Upload the profile to your MDM solution

  • Log in to your MDM console:
  • Upload the .mobileconfig file:
    • Provide a descriptive name for the profile (e.g., Ecosia Default Search for Chrome).
    • Add a meaningful description for documentation and clarity.

Step 3 - Scope the profile to devices

  • Define the target devices or groups:
    • Select specific user groups, devices, or organizational units for deployment.

Self-Service: If your organization leverages a self-service portal you can provide the settings as optional so users can install and uninstall Ecosia as they choose. 

There may be additional considerations for making the settings removable via self-service, such as scripting. Make sure to review available support documentation for your MDM solution or helpful resources such as the Mac Admins slack workspace. 

Step 4 - Test the deployment

  • Deploy to a test group or device:
    • Choose a representative sample of devices to verify functionality.
  • Validate the configuration:
    • Check if the profile installs correctly.
    • Confirm Ecosia is set as the default search engine in the browser(s).
    • Verify Typetag integration in search URLs (if applicable).
  • Troubleshoot issues:
    • Review MDM logs and device diagnostics for errors.
    • Adjust the .mobileconfig file or MDM settings as needed.

Step 5 - Roll out company-wide

  • Once testing is successful:
    • Expand the scope to include all intended devices.
    • Monitor deployment progress via the MDM dashboard.

Final step - Measure your impact

Tracking your organization's impact and seeing how your searches help plant trees is a big part of motivating teams to use Ecosia. For companies with over 1,000 employees that implement Ecosia using Google Workspace, we can help you to run a pilot and provide a monthly report via email highlighting your impact.

In order for us to track your impact you’ll need to get in touch so we can create a unique identifier called a typetag for your organization.

Request reporting

Steps to implement the reporting typetag

When implementing the typetag integration, you’ll need to append your unique typetag in the URL field(s) in either the configuration profile(s) or .plist file(s) depending on deployment method.

  1. Append the typetag
    • Look for the placeholder tt=xxxxxxxx in the file.

    • Replace xxxxxxxx with your organization’s unique typetag.

      URLs to update

      Update the typetag in the following policies:

    • Default Search Provider URL
    • Homepage URL
    • New Tab Page URL
  2. Save and deploy
    • Save the updated file.
    • Upload and deploy the file using your MDM solution (refer to the steps in the deployment section).

It’s important that you let us know once your IT team has deployed Ecosia. When we begin to attribute traffic to your organization we can schedule your monthly tree-reports.

Here is an example of the report you can expect to receive. Please note that reports show an estimated number of trees, based on the amount of searches sent to us. Trees cannot be used for carbon reporting or offsetting but it’s a great way to track your impact and to keep employees informed and engaged. For more information, please visit our internal comms support article.

Currently we can only provide reporting to organizations with more than 1,000 employees. If your company is under 1,000 employees please refer to our support materials for SMEs. Have any questions? Get in touch with us today and we’ll be on hand to support. Complete our form or book a call with Fred.

Resources for download 

Please find the plist & profile files for each supported browser below. 

Download files here

Note: Safari has limited system configuration controls and it is therefore not possible to configure Ecosia with a reporting typetag to measure the impact of employee searches on Ecosia. You can however set Ecosia as the default

Editing files

As previously mentioned, if you need to edit the file before deploying them, there are a few tools we recommend using for editing: 

Plist files

To edit plist files you can use a standard text editors such as macOS' TextEdit or a 3rd part editor such as BBEdit.

  • Ensure the plist is XML formatted: 
  • Execute the following command on macOS to convert to XML format if needed:
  • /usr/bin/plutil -convert xml1 /path/to/file.plist

Profiles

To edit profiles with the.mobileconfig filetype you’ll need to use a profile editor such as Apple Configurator or iMazing Profile Editor

Be aware of the Jamf considerations for signed & unsigned profiles

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