Apps & Licensing FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about enabling, licensing, and rolling out apps in MangoApps.
For what the Apps page is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Enabling Apps, Licences & Plugins Overview.
Setup
I enabled an app but my users can’t see it — what did I miss?
A newly enabled app starts as admin-only — it is not yet published to users. Your users won’t see it until you explicitly publish it. Go to Admin → All Apps → click the app → Access management, then either click Publish to everyone or add a visibility rule for a specific group. The app must also be enabled — publishing an app that isn’t enabled is blocked with a message telling you to enable it first.
What’s the difference between licensing and enabling?
They are two separate gates. A licence is an entitlement — it means your organisation has the right to use the app. Licences come from your account manager, your platform tier, a bundle, or a per-app subscription. Enabling is the admin’s decision to turn the app on for your organisation. An app that is licensed but not enabled does nothing. An app that is not licensed cannot be enabled — you’ll see a message naming the bundle(s) the app belongs to.
Do I need to configure an app before publishing it?
No — publishing with default settings is safe. But the Setup Health badge on the Apps list flags enabled apps whose configuration still matches every schema default. That badge is a signal that you may not have reviewed the app’s settings. You can configure the app at any time from Admin → All Apps → click the app → Configure.
Permissions and access
Who can enable and disable apps?
Only users with the Administrator or Super Admin role. The Apps page uses the same administrator gate as the rest of the admin area.
What does “app admin” vs “contributor” mean?
These are per-app, per-business role assignments managed from the app’s detail page. An app admin can configure the app (settings, schema, destructive operations). A contributor can work with records (create, edit) but cannot change the app’s structure or settings. Contributors also gain access to the app even if it hasn’t been published — the access check grants visibility to anyone assigned as an app contributor.
How do visibility rules work?
A visibility rule ties an app to a notification recipient group. Only members of that group see the app. Multiple rules are additive — a user in any listed group has access. When the last rule is removed, the app falls back to its published state: if it was published to everyone, everyone still sees it; if it was admin-only, only admins see it. Each group can only have one rule per app per business.
Day-to-day
What happens to an app’s settings when I disable it?
Disabling preserves the app’s configuration and its published state. The only changes are that the app is switched off, unpinned from the sidebar, and stamped with who disabled it and when. If you re-enable the app later, the previous configuration and published-to-users state are still there.
How many apps can I pin to the sidebar?
The sidebar rail holds a maximum of 7 pinned apps. If all 7 slots are full, you must unpin one before pinning another — the controller blocks the request with a message stating the limit. Only enabled apps can be pinned. Disabling an app automatically unpins it.
When I save an app’s configuration, does it overwrite settings the app wrote itself?
No. The configuration save iterates only over keys declared in the app’s configuration schema. Keys that the app’s own settings page or background processes wrote are preserved — unrecognised parameters are ignored.
Does the “Setup Health” badge mean something is broken?
No. It means the app is enabled and every configuration key still matches its schema default. It’s a reminder that you enabled the app but haven’t customised its settings — the app works fine on defaults, but the defaults may not match your organisation’s needs. Once you change any setting, the badge updates to “Customised.”
When something looks wrong
“I clicked Enable but got told the app requires a licence”
The app is not available to your organisation. The error message names the bundle(s) the app belongs to — contact your account manager to add that bundle or a direct licence grant. Pay-as-you-go apps (Live Assist, Power Tables, Live Boards, App Builder) skip the licence gate entirely; if one of those is showing this error, contact support.
“I pinned an app but it doesn’t show in the sidebar”
Three possible causes: (1) You already have 7 apps pinned — the 8th is accepted but appears only in the overflow, not the rail. The Apps list shows a banner when pinned apps exceed the rail capacity. (2) The app isn’t enabled — only enabled apps can be pinned, and disabling an app automatically unpins it. (3) The user personalised their own sidebar rail, which overrides the admin-set pins.
Plugins (custom apps)
What are the size limits for uploading a plugin?
The zip file must be at most 10 MB. When extracted, the contents must not exceed 100 MB and must contain no more than 500 files. Uploads that exceed any of these limits are rejected.
Can I roll back a plugin to a previous version?
Yes. The Plugins page at Admin → Apps → Custom Apps keeps the last 20 versions of each plugin. You can roll back to any previous version from the version history.
Can I uninstall a system app?
No. System apps cannot be removed — the uninstall action explicitly blocks them with “System apps cannot be removed.” You can only disable a system app (which hides it from users and unpins it). Custom plugins can be fully uninstalled, which runs the plugin’s cleanup hook, purges its per-business data, and removes the marketplace link.
More help
- Enabling Apps, Licences & Plugins Overview
- Settings Hub & Navigation
- Billing & Subscription
- Ask AI — the assistant answers questions about app management from these articles.