Locking down iPad settings - am I missing something?

[nutso]

Hi,

We're looking at introducing iPads for student use, but as far as I can see there is no way of blocking access to settings. I'm aware of the Restrictions menu and the iPhone configuration utility but these don't cover some of the important things.

The first/biggest problem is the passcode issue - either we set a password which then has to be entered every time before a student can use it, or we don't set one at all which then allows a student to come along and set one. Then the iPad requires a trip to my office to restore the backup.

The other problem is that even with restrictions set and regardless of whether or not a passcode is set, students can still go in and set airplane mode, change international settings, and just generally bugger things up for the next person who comes along.

Am I missing something or are you all constantly restoring backups of your iPads? How do you manage them in your school?

[Pyroman]

We just use the restrictions menu to block youtube and e-mail setup etc. and we set the passcode to 1234 so the kids can get on and can't set their own. As for airplane mode i'm not sue how to restrict that unfortunately

[zag]

We don't give them to kids for exactly this reason.

[nutso]

Do you try to make sure that students don't find out that passcode then, Pyroman? Because as far as I can see, once somebody knows a passcode there is nothing to stop them changing it to something else.

[Mr.Ben]

It's a glaring omission by Apple - but then they expect them to be personal devices.

I spend at least an hour a week doing this!

Regards, Ben

[Pyroman]

Do you try to make sure that students don't find out that passcode then, Pyroman? Because as far as I can see, once somebody knows a passcode there is nothing to stop them changing it to something else.

Luckily we have pretty good kids and staff so the kids wouldn't go bother looking to change it and the staff would jump on them if they did, saying that it does help the maximum class size is 10!

[Pyroman]

Although the thing that surprises me is that they're trying to get these into schools and there's no administrative software that would let you control all of this from an "ipad server"

[nutso]

Well.. I think I've solved the problem. It was quick, easy, and didn't involve any "accidents". I root...sorry, "jailbroke" the ******* thing.

It was quite good timing in a way because the jailbreak tool for iPad 2s only came out last week. Once done I just installed SBSettings and Activator. I used SBSettings to hide everything undesirable (including SBSettings itself), and set Activator to set a button combination that would launch SBSettings so that I can get back in if needed.

[ChrisJ]

It's a glaring omission by Apple - but then they expect them to be personal devices.

I was hoping their big education announcement the other week was going to address the lack of control for devices in a school environment. At a minimum I was hoping for the volume app purchasing scheme to come to the UK store.

Was a bit of a fail announcement. New books and a weird online course thing that won't really suit most schools.

[Sylv3r]

Well.. I think I've solved the problem. It was quick, easy, and didn't involve any "accidents". I root...sorry, "jailbroke" the ******* thing.

It was quite good timing in a way because the jailbreak tool for iPad 2s only came out last week. Once done I just installed SBSettings and Activator. I used SBSettings to hide everything undesirable (including SBSettings itself), and set Activator to set a button combination that would launch SBSettings so that I can get back in if needed.

An interesting way to do it, up to now we've had no issues but will give this a go as and when the need arises.

[GrumbleDook]

There are two ways of dealing with this sort of thing and it is not limited to iPads.

1 - Find a technical solution. This may involved the use of built-in or 3rd party tools to provide an enterprise style system where control is solely in the hands of the administrators and satisfies the need to prevent disruption and possible breach of laws.

2 - Find a behaviour management solution. This involves dealing with 'breaking' into equipment, changing settings, disruption during lessons as you would do with an disobedient behaviour and breach of school rules. You would not tolerate someone defacing the school walls or someone running up and down the corridors screaming profanities so why would you accept similar when tech is involved. This *IS* control in a school environment.

Ok, in reality there is a compromise position where you do what you can with the tech to support the behaviour management ... but don't just use the tech to lock things down.

You can set a passcode to make changes ... but don't give them access to add apps, etc. Have a look at previous posts about the iPhone Configuration Kit and Apple's documentation on MDM.