Apple Configurator 2...?

[donkeymusic]

Being able to manage home screen layouts. Works really well.

 

sounds good but not sure ive seen that option

[Sheepy]

I cannot seem to work out how this application works.... Does this offer the solution of being able to buy one app and use that same app on 500iPads if they are all using the same Apple ID or do you have to buy multiple licences for each and every iPad?

[tmoon-mint]

I cannot seem to work out how this application works.... Does this offer the solution of being able to buy one app and use that same app on 500iPads if they are all using the same Apple ID or do you have to buy multiple licences for each and every iPad?

 

You need to enrol in the Volume Purchase program and purchase 500 licences. As long as your MDM supports it you don't even need Apple ID's anymore.

[Sheepy]

You need to enrol in the Volume Purchase program and purchase 500 licences. As long as your MDM supports it you don't even need Apple ID's anymore.

 

Thanks for that. Seems there is no real cheap way of doing it really? Im not sure all schools are the same but in my experience children can get bored of apps very quickly.. So we would spend hundreds buying an app that a couple of weeks later would no longer be used? Scary times...

[dry]

Thanks for that. Seems there is no real cheap way of doing it really? Im not sure all schools are the same but in my experience children can get bored of apps very quickly.. So we would spend hundreds buying an app that a couple of weeks later would no longer be used? Scary times...

There's often a discount for buying in bulk on VPP.

 

We tend to stick to free apps- but this is becoming more and more troublesome as developers shift to a model where you must have an individual account to use the app. Not ideal when you've got 60 iPads and 100s of kids trying to use the app!

[DCUK6]

Anyone else getting it where everytime you apply a blueprint it has to download the apps again?

 

Found out this is normal

Edited May 6, 2016 by DCUK6

[Garacesh]

Anyone else getting it where everytime you apply a blueprint it has to download the apps again?

 

That's fairly normal AFAIK. Apple Configurator likes to redownload stuff a lot.

I haven't tried locally storing the apps as, yes it makes blueprints take longer, but it means I'm getting the latest version of whatever app I'm after (and updates are usually the reason the iPads get fired back to me anyway)

[DCUK6]

That's fairly normal AFAIK. Apple Configurator likes to redownload stuff a lot.

I haven't tried locally storing the apps as, yes it makes blueprints take longer, but it means I'm getting the latest version of whatever app I'm after (and updates are usually the reason the iPads get fired back to me anyway)

 

Cheers, just found as you posted.

 

Gone are the days where i can add a new app in a few mins then

[DJ-1701]

I was thinking of asking if the Primary could purchase the OSX Server addon for the Mac (at a whopping £15 I believe) so we could cache the App downloads to save a bit of time.

[DCUK6]

Something weird tho, changed the profile in the BP and added a app.

 

Pluffed in a ipad and aplied the template again, it tried overwriting the apps already installed and asked if i wanted to skip.

 

Wonder if theres just a update method.

 

Edit: probably the update button just trying it. If your updating i wonder how it knows if there is a new app update. it updates to quick to be checking

Edited May 6, 2016 by DCUK6

[Garacesh]

If you're updating over-the-air(/wifi), it might be worthwhile, but we aren't, I have to pull laptop sets and update them over-the-wire in batches of 16 when I want to modify them, so it doesn't really make a difference here.

[DCUK6]

Well the update doesnt work on BPs.

 

Changed the wallpaper in the BP, hit the update button but nothing changed.

[tmoon-mint]

I was thinking of asking if the Primary could purchase the OSX Server addon for the Mac (at a whopping £15 I believe) so we could cache the App downloads to save a bit of time.

Just be careful when setting it up if you are on an LA network. You need a static public IP to register the caching service with Apple and if you share IPs on for example an LA network this will cause issues for everybody else.

[DCUK6]

More issues,

 

Tried disallowing paring with non configurator hosts, that worked but you cant access files.

Enabled pairing again and thats fine.

 

Thought id try something out so disabled pairing again but no matter what i do i cant get it to update the profile to disable it again. Tried removing and reapplying.

 

Also found once you apply a wallpaper you cant got back to default

 

Reapplying the BP also assigns it a second VPP license...

Edited May 6, 2016 by DCUK6

[DCUK6]

Have to say, theres a few extra features like extra text on the lock screen and extra restrictions but overall i think its worse than 1 in pretty much most ways.

 

Bulk checking things is appalling, V1, you just click on usb connected and if there is a line rather than a tick next to a app then you know its not installed on all ipads.

It updated the profile every time the ipads are connected.

[kedajaco]

Using Configurator 2

After countless failures and errors I decided to follow advice in other threads and I have created a vpp account rather than use our original Apple ID. This now appears to be linked to Configurator 2 and I can see the free apps that I’ve bought on the education store. Before trying to replicate what we used to have with profiles and restrictions I thought I would just simply try and install a couple of apps either with or without a blueprint. I have tried this in a supervised and unsupervised state. On both occasions the apps are transferred onto the iPads however when I try and run either of them I am met an error message stating “Unable to Verify App” - A connection to the App Store is required for the first launch of “APP NAME” on this iPad.

Now if I connect to the WiFi with these iPads the apps then start up and I don’t need to do anything in the App Store or even open the App Store account. Am I missing a step here?

The workaround doesn’t really work for us because on several occasions we are delivering the iPads to rooms where we cannot get a Wifi connection, we just need them to work offline.

Any help of advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hi there, just adding a +1 to this as I'm having the same problem. Your post is the only result in google when searching for the exact error but I'm getting exactly the same thing. Did you find a solution?

[DCUK6]

Hi there, just adding a +1 to this as I'm having the same problem. Your post is the only result in google when searching for the exact error but I'm getting exactly the same thing. Did you find a solution?

 

 

Isnt that to do with using the managed distribution option.

 

You can revoke licenses remotly so im asuming that the ipad will try to check its license with the mdm/apple servers.

 

Bit stupid if u cant open the apps offline though.

 

Just installing 6 ipads, will see if i get the same when offline.

[Joanne]

Yeah you have to be online at least once for the app to verify itself against servers which are online,

[MattPanton]

Hi Guys,

 

I've been following this thread for a while and wanted to clarify something.

 

We bought 20x Pages redemption codes.

 

We ask apply 15 to supervised iPads that don't use Apple IDs

 

 

1) What happens to the licenses applied to the iPads? Are they migrated to VPP Managed Distribution when we submit the form?

2) What happens to the 5 unredeemed codes we have ?

 

 

 

 

Also separately why are people talking about creating Master Backups? Surely using the BP to mandate the home screen layout is what you want instead of preparing iPads using a backup of one??

 

 

 

Other than that I'm having a great time setting up AC2, using it to apply the wireless policy and restrictions policy. Then using the VPP token in Meraki MDM to deploy Apps wirelessly.

 

If anyone else is attempting this there is a great video out there (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOBl-Gp66vI)

 

Thanks

 

[MattPanton]

One more thing!

 

With regards to blocking apps, in the list of blocked apps you can type in com.apple.Preferences as the Bundle Identifier of the Settings app, but when you apply the profile it says its invalid, any body had this or got around it as it seems the closest we mere mortals can get from the darn kids fiddling with the settings...

 

(Error) MC: Failed to parse profile data. Error: NSError:

Desc : The profile “Hide Settings App” is invalid.

Sugg : The payload “Hide Settings App” is invalid.

US Desc: The profile “Hide Settings App” is invalid.

US Sugg: The payload “Hide Settings App” is invalid.

Domain : MCProfileErrorDomain

Code : 1000

Type : MCFatalError

Params : (

"Hide Settings App"

)

...Underlying error:

NSError:

Desc : The payload “Hide Settings App” is invalid.

Sugg : The field “blacklistedAppBundleIDs” contains the invalid value “com.apple.Preferences”.

US Desc: The payload “Hide Settings App” is invalid.

US Sugg: The field “blacklistedAppBundleIDs” contains the invalid value “com.apple.Preferences”.

Domain : MCPayloadErrorDomain

Code : 2000

Type : MCFatalError

Params : (

"Hide Settings App"

)

...Underlying error:

NSError:

Desc : The field “blacklistedAppBundleIDs” contains the invalid value “com.apple.Preferences”.

US Desc: The field “blacklistedAppBundleIDs” contains the invalid value “com.apple.Preferences”.

Domain : MCPayloadErrorDomain

Code : 2004

Type : MCFatalError

Params : (

blacklistedAppBundleIDs,

"com.apple.Preferences"

)

Extra info:

{

isPrimary = 1;

}

Edited May 19, 2016 by MattPanton

[tmoon-mint]

It isnt possible to block the settings app. As far as I know this is intentional. Creating home screen layouts is a very new feature and didnt exist at launch. The only way to manage layouts before was to create a master backup and restore your iPads to it.

[Strawdog]

You can also do more with a restored backup than just the home screen layout (e.g. restrictions passcode/settings, keyboards, accessibility settings, etc.).

 

I see you still can't preconfigure the location of WebClips

[dry]

So I've finally just purchased a paid-for app using VPP. It was relatively straight forward (apart from the fact our reseller took almost a week to turn around our order) but here's something...

 

On the VPP store, the app was showing as £1.99/license for 20+ licenses. As we were buying 26 licenses we bought £52's worth of VPP credit. The subtotal remained at £51.74 all the way through the checkout process. Now the app's actually been bought, I've seen we have £8.88 of credit left and we've only been charged £43.12 for 26 licenses.

 

That works out to £1.65/license, which is the VAT-free price. I guess somewhere along the line it's been picked up that we don't need to pay VAT. Would have been nice to know that before we bought the extra credit!!

[Brimstone]

So I've finally just purchased a paid-for app using VPP. It was relatively straight forward (apart from the fact our reseller took almost a week to turn around our order) but here's something...

 

On the VPP store, the app was showing as £1.99/license for 20+ licenses. As we were buying 26 licenses we bought £52's worth of VPP credit. The subtotal remained at £51.74 all the way through the checkout process. Now the app's actually been bought, I've seen we have £8.88 of credit left and we've only been charged £43.12 for 26 licenses.

 

That works out to £1.65/license, which is the VAT-free price. I guess somewhere along the line it's been picked up that we don't need to pay VAT. Would have been nice to know that before we bought the extra credit!!

 

Yes VPP credit is zero VAT rated, the price you see on the store includes VAT, any reseller that sells VPP Credit should know this

[mrstrong]

Hi,

 

Just updated to el capitan and moved to apple configurator 2 and found this thread but can't face wading through 24 pages!

 

Can anyone summarize e.g. a best practice workflow or at least what works for them (maybe in a new thread/sticky) ?!

e.g. something like (but with more details!):

 

1. migrate redemption codes to managed distribution

2. prepare a master ipad device

3. purchase via vpp and add apps and arrange (e.g in folders) on master ipad

3. make a backup of master ipad

4. make profiles as required

5. make a blueprint to restore backup and apply profiles