[ipad] Meraki and silent install of APPS

[JCovarrubias]

Hello all,

 

This is my first post here but hopefully not my last! there is a ton of stuff that I have read and found use full in this forum. Hopefully soon, I can contribute to the community.

I need some help. We have 90 Ipads that we are trying to manage.

Well about a week ago, we are no longer able to push apps silently. We had set them up over the winter break and installed multiple Apps on different days successfully using VPP. We have tags set up and that is how we assign apps with Auto Grant. We have Ipads in 4 different schools (grade schools) and trying to touch each one is a major inconvenient. The apps appear in the purchase store with the cloud symbol. So we don't suspect meraki to be the issue as pushing the app shows up and revoking the licence removes it from the app store. I can install the apps but have to do each app manually and input the password as well.

 

- We have set up a profile using Meraki and they have been successfully enrolled.

- We also have set up VPP and successfully linked it with Meraki.

- All the Ipads have a unique Itunes account (@icloud.com) and they have been singed in on the Ipads.

- Ipads are set up to automatically download Apps.

- Most of the Ipads are still on IOS 8.1.1 (originally configured with this IOS)

- I have also checked in the profile to allow all the apps the be installed and still don't get pushed silently. Many people in this forum have reported successfully been able to push apps after changing that setting. We have Allowed content ratings to Apps: 12+

- Also we specifically added the IP address to one of our test ipads to bypass the Firewall, thinking that maybe the firewall was stopping something from it installing. Same result.

 

 

A. Is someone else experiencing this? We work closely with a High School in the area and they have reported having similar issues.

B. Is there a setting that we are missing???

 

I have double checked everything to my knowledge and can't seem to figure this one out. Please let me know if any more info is needed and i can provide them. Thank you

[Brimstone]

Hello all,

 

This is my first post here but hopefully not my last! there is a ton of stuff that I have read and found use full in this forum. Hopefully soon, I can contribute to the community.

I need some help. We have 90 Ipads that we are trying to manage.

Well about a week ago, we are no longer able to push apps silently. We had set them up over the winter break and installed multiple Apps on different days successfully using VPP. We have tags set up and that is how we assign apps with Auto Grant. We have Ipads in 4 different schools (grade schools) and trying to touch each one is a major inconvenient. The apps appear in the purchase store with the cloud symbol. So we don't suspect meraki to be the issue as pushing the app shows up and revoking the licence removes it from the app store. I can install the apps but have to do each app manually and input the password as well.

 

- We have set up a profile using Meraki and they have been successfully enrolled.

- We also have set up VPP and successfully linked it with Meraki.

- All the Ipads have a unique Itunes account (@icloud.com) and they have been singed in on the Ipads.

- Ipads are set up to automatically download Apps.

- Most of the Ipads are still on IOS 8.1.1 (originally configured with this IOS)

- I have also checked in the profile to allow all the apps the be installed and still don't get pushed silently. Many people in this forum have reported successfully been able to push apps after changing that setting. We have Allowed content ratings to Apps: 12+

- Also we specifically added the IP address to one of our test ipads to bypass the Firewall, thinking that maybe the firewall was stopping something from it installing. Same result.

 

 

A. Is someone else experiencing this? We work closely with a High School in the area and they have reported having similar issues.

B. Is there a setting that we are missing???

 

I have double checked everything to my knowledge and can't seem to figure this one out. Please let me know if any more info is needed and i can provide them. Thank you

 

From the list of items you have done above I can point to 2 of these that will mean you can not silently install apps to the iPads..

 

iTunes Allowed Content Ratings.....if you set this for a specific age group, the iPad will always ask you for the Apple ID and password to install the app.. You have to ensure you allow all content without any ratings set, this is a major part of allowing silent install so don't really know why you have been able to silently install the apps before now, things maybe different in the US.

 

Automatic Downloads....Apple have posted an update to the managed distribution guide in the last few days when used with an MDM and managed distribution. Apps being purchased in volume and delivered via an MDM could not previously be a " managed app" when the app was installed via the " Automatic Downloads" setting on the iPad, see below for more info as it's likely that this is a route of your problem. The silent install is triggered via the MDM now rather than automatic downloads..

 

About VPP Managed Distribution - Apple Support

[JCovarrubias]

Yea, that is really messing with us since at one point we were able to silently install multiple apps.

- Okay, I will change the Content Rating settings to allow all the apps to install. Theoretically, they wont be able to install any apps anyway since they don't have the password correct?

- So my understanding of the Apple Support doc is that i have to disable the "Automatic Downloads" for Meraki to be able to push the apps silently (4th paragraph, second sentence). is this correct?

 

One last little thing that I found out from my boss today, he said that he didn't check the "Supervised" box when he was initially setting up the ipads. Would this be another reason this isn't working now?

This whole Apple management is completely new to both of us.

Thanks for your help Brimstone

[Seb26]

Hi,

I am exactly in the same situation and have exactly the same problem.

 

I will try to follow the instructions given by other people and hope it will work again!

[fredbayker]

Also, apple have updated their terms and conditions, if you haven't accepted you can't install apps silently. This means accepting the t&c for each apple ID.

[fredbayker]

And yes, the devices have to be supervised for silent installation. If you're in the US, you could try the DEP.

[Seb26]

Accept terms and conditions, I did it (every time there is an iOS update...). I will try to uncheck "automatic downloads"

[JCovarrubias]

Also, apple have updated their terms and conditions, if you haven't accepted you can't install apps silently. This means accepting the t&c for each apple ID.

 

How do you do this on a bigger scale? Do we have to touch each iPad again??

[JCovarrubias]

Status update on everything.

So Supervised was the new key for us to make sure that they install "silently". We supervised one and tried it and it was brilliant. It installed perfectly and no prompts no nothing.

This had previously worked before without them been supervised and that's why it was confusing to us. So here are the new steps we are taking.

- Supervising all iPads. This will happen in the summer when the student are out as part of our global updates.

- We assign a licence to the app using MDM>VPP. This causes the app to appear in the store under purchased app. *Before since automatic download was enabled, this would cause the app to install, well no more *

- Once the license has been assigned and the app is in the store, then we go to MDM>Apps and push the app we want it to install. This causes a prompt from Meraki saying that it is going to "install" and app with the options to cancel or install.

- For now we have told the teachers and staff via E-mail, that if they happen to run into that screen, to install! It's not the best solution but it will do for now till we can get them back in the summer (4 different buildings).

- I don't know if this was the way it should have been done from the begging but I'm glad that we can push the apps now.

 

Side notes

* Don't push the app using MDM>APPs before you grant a license. It will try to install the app anyway, but it will ask for a iTunes password.

* There is a difference between "User Tags" and "Tags". Had to spend a good portion of my morning setting these up to work for us.

* Trying to push 1 app using MDM>APPs is too long of a process compared to using MDM>VPP.

* The vocabulary can be a headache as well. I cant say apps when i mean MDM>APPs because it gets confused with an actual App. That why I wrote all this with MDM>APPs to not get confused.

THANKS Again to BRIMSTONE for putting me on the right path.

Edited February 16, 2015 by JCovarrubias