In various implementations, a computer-implemented method for remotely managing settings of applications includes receiving a network communication from a managed device, the received network communication including a client-side hash value. The method further includes identifying settings for an application on the managed device in response to the receiving of the network communication, where the identified settings include configuration instructions for the application. Based on a comparison between the received client-side hash value and a server-side hash value that corresponds to the identified settings, at least some of the identified settings are transmitted to the managed device. The transmitting of the at least some of the identified settings can be based on the comparison indicating a mismatch between the received client-side hash value and the server-side hash value. The method may also include completing processing of the received network communication after the transmitting of the at least some of the identified settings.