iPad SimpleMDM Enrollment

First, check 'Enrollments' under the 'Devices' category in SimpleMDM.
Click on the SimpleMDM link.
Search by serial number under 'DEP Devices'.If it finds the device, you're all set to move on to the next step.
- If it does not find the iPad and show as 'Awaiting Enrollment', you'll need to log in to school.apple.com and assign the device to SimpleMDM.
- Search for the iPad in 'Devices' by serial number. Once you find it, click on the device and change the MDM to 'SimpleMDM' under ‘Device Management Service’ by clicking on the three dots (...) on the right corner of the page, ‘Assign Device Management’ and select SimpleMDM from the dropdown list.
- After confirming the device is set to enroll in SimpleMDM, switch back over to the SimpleMDM interface and click on Devices > Enrollments.
- Click the SimpleMDM link under enrollments.
- Click ‘Sync with Apple’ to have SimpleMDM find the device. Confirm it was successfully pulled into SimpleMDM by entering the serial number in the search field. The iPad’s status should show as ‘awaiting enrollment’.

On the iPad, plug the device into your laptop and set the device into DFU mode.
- On iPads with a home button, this is done by holding down the power button AND the home button at the same time. Hold both buttons down until the device goes black. Then let go of the power button but not the home button until your laptop detects the iPad in DFU (recovery) mode.
- On iPads without a home button, press volume up once, volume down once, and then hold down the power button until your laptop detects the iPad in recovery mode. This can take 10+ seconds.

Choose ‘restore’ on your laptop to wipe the iPad. Scroll down to the bottom of this page if you encounter any issues while trying to restore the iPad.

After it finishes restoring the iPad, connect to BSD-Events or 6334-init for initial configuration/enrollment.

Once enrolled, the iPad can be added to groups so that it can get the profiles, apps, and restrictions that it needs.

For example, if this is a Title iPad at Irving, search in ‘Groups’ for the word ‘Title’. The group ‘TITLE - IRV iPads’ already exists. Click on the ‘Device Filter’, ‘Add Filter’ and make sure the conditions are set for: Devices, SimpleMDM Name, equals, and then enter the device name under ‘value’ (TITLE-21XXXXX-IP). Once SimpleMDM finds the device name, it’ll automatically add it to the group and deploy all profiles and apps assigned to the group.

If the group does not yet exist, please let me know and I will create the group.

All groups need: the wifi cert, wifi profile, lock screen profile, and wallpaper.

Other necessary profiles are school/program specific but they include: home screen layouts, app restrictions, and system restrictions.

Final Steps:

In SimpleMDM, go into the Device Details for the iPad and under ‘Info’, change the ‘Device Name’ to match the name in SimpleMDM. This is the name that shows up on the iPad in Settings>General>About.
On the iPad, go to Settings>Privacy & Security. Toggle On ‘Location Services’.
- Open the SimpleMDM app
- Choose ‘Allow While Using App’ when it asks to use the iPad’s location.
- Go back to Settings>Privacy & Security and update SimpleMDM’s location settings to ‘Always’. This is so the app reports the location of the iPad at all times.
Make sure the iPad is connected to BSD-Secure and remove/forget BSD-Events. Keep 6334-init so that the iPad can connect to wifi at the DO to help with troubleshooting if the device is not connecting to Secure.

Troubleshooting

Occasionally, while trying to restore an iPad, the iPad will return to the lock screen and leave DFU mode. You'll see an error along the lines of "The iPad ____ could not be restored. An unknown error occurred." There are a few things to try to get the iPad restored. (The screen seems to remain black when DFU mode will not work. Only seems to work when it shows the screen with a cable attached to a computer; this is recovery mode.)

Try a different cable/port. Try a lightning to USB-C cable, a USB-C to USB-A cable, etc. or try changing between Mac/Windows.
When you know for sure that the iPad is going back to the lock screen instead of restoring in DFU mode: While the Apple Logo is showing and before it reaches the lock screen, repeat the DFU steps on the iPad to put it into recovery mode. This seems to work often. Your computer should still be showing 'Waiting for iPad' when you do this step.