SHARED IPAD IN BUSINESS

What’s new in iOS and iPadOS 13.4 ?

iOS and iPadOS 13.4 were released to the public and introduce important innovations for productivity, such as mouse support, iCloud Folder Sharing and the Shared iPad function, which is also extended to enterprises.

A further change for Shared iPads is the possibility to start temporary sessions without performing the authentication using a Managed Apple ID. In order to use the Shared iPad function, the company must have an Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager account.

We are going to answer some questions with Roberto Tramelli, Apple professional specialized in Mobile Device Management and Apple Certified Trainer.

What is Apple Business Manager?

Apple Business Manager (ABM) is an Apple platform that allows the IT administrators to organize iPhones, iPads, iPods touch, Apple TVs and Macs from one location. Easy to use, ABM provides modern tools to set up Apple devices in a business environment.

What can I do with Apple Business Manager?

Apple Business Manager is a powerful tool that allows the Zero-touch configuration of your devices, the massive purchase of licenses from the App Store, the authorization of custom Apps and the centralized management of Managed Apple IDs. Moreover, Apple Business Manager is integrated by using the authentication with a Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD) associated account, so that it allows you to quickly create employee accounts with Managed Apple IDs.

What is meant by Zero-touch?

Zero-touch is the most innovative configuration method for mobile devices; from ABM it is possible to assign the devices to an MDM server. Once that is done, you simply have to start the device and everything will happen automatically: configurations of network, of restrictions, of accounts, of apps and eBooks.

What is a Managed Apple ID?

An Apple ID account allows you to access all the Apple services in a personal context (e.g. App Store, Music, iCloud). Managed Apple IDs are similar, but they are intended for business use and they can be centrally managed by the ICT department.

The company assign the licenses of the Apps to use and, thanks to the User Enrollment, there is also the possibility to apply security rules or configurations to the managed apps.

Moreover, it is possible to activate the connection to Microsoft Azure Active Directory as authentication source for Managed Apple IDs.

What is the difference between Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager?

Apple Business Manager is the platform for companies, whereas Apple School Manager is for schools.

The features of the two are gradually equalizing, in fact, they both include Zero-touch configuration, the management of the licenses of Apps and eBooks, the management of Managed Apple IDs. The main difference to date is that Apple School Manager allows the management of students, teachers, classes and courses on iTunes U.

What MDM innovations are introduced with iPadOS 13.4?

ABM is important but MDM server still remains a indispensable tool to manage Apple devices.

Apple finally introduces the Shared iPad feature, previously available only for schools, also in the companies which possess ABM. In order to access the Shared iPad, it is possible to use a Managed Apple ID, now even by creating a temporary session without authentication.

In the Restrictions payload of the MDM console, in fact, it is now possible to define whether temporary sessions are enabled on Shared iPad or not.

Ermetix MDM supports the new features of iOS and iPadOS 13.4 update.

In order to configure Shared iPads, it is sufficient that ABM is connected to Ermetix MDM, in Ermetix Admin > Global Settings > Apple > Deployment Program it will be possible to enable the feature and select which iPads are going to be configured as Shared iPads.

NB: Once you have selected the iPads and clicked Apply, it will be necessary to perform a complete initialization of the devices. After the phase of first run, the device will restart, and it will show the login screen.

In the Restrictions payload there is now a new restriction: “Allow Temporary Session on Shared iPad”. It can be applied only to Shared iPads updated to iPadOS 13.4: if it is denied, Temporary Sessions are not available on Shared iPads.

Ermetix MDM allows to obtain a Seamless Crossplatform Experience both with Android and iPadOS. Android Enterprise, in fact, allows Zero-touch configuration, Google Play Managed accounts ensure the massive attribution of licenses, and the multiuser management provides a solution for shared devices.