Provisioning Apple mobile devices

You can get Apple mobile devices enrolled to BigFix Mobile in the following ways.

  • Enrolling through enrollment URL - Apple: Users can enroll their Apple mobile devices (iOS and iPadOS) over-the-air through an enrollment URL.
  • Apple Automated Device Enrollment: Administrators can configure and automate enrollment of out-of-the-box Apple mobile devices (iOS and iPadOS) that an organization purchases through Apple or authorized resellers to provide to employees. iPhone and iPad DEP enrollment is very similar to Mac DEP enrollment, with minor changes in options and screen flows. DEP profiles allow specification of which setup screens to skip during enrollment.
  • Apple BYOD enrollments: Device users can enroll their personally owned iOS or iPadOS devices with BigFix Mobile, so that the IT admin can manage the devices.
On enrollment
  • Appstore applications can be added to a Policy Group for delivery at the time of enrollment to iOS or iPadOS devices. In such cases, when presented with the DEP enrollment screen to supply an Apple ID, users should have an existing Apple ID to enter.
    Note: Do not create a new ID during enrollment as then the Appstore apps cannot be delivered through the Group Policy at time of enrollment.
Post enrollment
  • After enrollment, under the Enrollment profile, you can see two new sections – Apps and Restrictions. This is where you can find out which policies, apps and restrictions have been applied through MDM, either at the time of enrollment, or after enrollment. ​
Screen-locked Devices
  • Even if the iPhone or iPad is turned on, the device will not respond to most requests (such as profile delivery, client refresh) unless the device is unlocked. If the screen is locked, the Apple Push notification server will check in and report the status as “NotNow”, meaning it is not able to process the requests.
Known issue
  • It is possible to target Apple actions against Apple devices that do not support the action. For example, an MDM shutdown command might target non-supervised Apple devices. In these situations, the action will fail.