MDM Recommendations for iPads

[CommodoreS]

Please can anyone recommend a cheap, affordable, reliable MDM to use that would integrate well with 16 Shared iPad 2017s?

 

Not Zuludesk though, as thats who we are moving away from after countless problems.

[tl82]

Mosyle is very good. I couldn't work without it now and even better was that most of it is free!!!. It's only the bulk commands and the like, that you have to pay for.

[Helen25]

Agree with @CommodoreS on zuludesk

[Rob_D]

We use Intune, which should be fairly inexpensive and you should be able to get added to your MS agreement.

[CHSGM]

Lighspeed is extremely easy to manage - got 400+ devices from 3 schools under 1 umbrella and it's incredibly seamless

[Jamman960]

We're finding Zuludesk to be ok with just over 200 iPads bar the odd small niggle, what issues are you guys facing?

[DalekSec]

Mosyle, yet to use it in anger but love it so far

[Blue_Cookeh]

We use Intune, which should be fairly inexpensive and you should be able to get added to your MS agreement.

 

Moving from Meraki (free) to MS Intune (via EES). Works out dirt cheap since it's done on staff count rather than device and they both have similar featuresets. Arguably Intune handles certificates/users/802.1x better.

[Brimstone]

Please can anyone recommend a cheap, affordable, reliable MDM to use that would integrate well with 16 Shared iPad 2017s?

 

Not Zuludesk though, as thats who we are moving away from after countless problems.

 

Would be good to know what issues you have experienced with Zuludesk as this is one of the top MDM used across the world?

[Brimstone]

Moving from Meraki (free) to MS Intune (via EES). Works out dirt cheap since it's done on staff count rather than device and they both have similar featuresets. Arguably Intune handles certificates/users/802.1x better.

 

I’d say very different, InTune can’t create self signed Certs easily. If you are planning on integrating Apple Classroom you have to use 2 different CA’s for Certsfor teacher/student devices for trust.

 

I have 3 schools all successfully using Apple’s Shared iPad Managed using Jamf Pro to manage them.

Edited June 25, 2018 by Brimstone

[CommodoreS]

Thank you for the help and great suggestions. I am going to try Mosyle.

 

The main issues we had (ZD) were related to poor support and invoicing (attempts to overcharge\different prices to those advertised on its site) as well as some features not working as we expected, but i'd rather not go into too many specific details. If ZD works well for other people I am glad. Its not a terrible product, but it was not for the ideal product and service for us and we were not overly impressed. The company does not seem too bothered about customer retention either.

[CHiLL]

We're using InTune. It was a bit of a mare to set up and it's not as straightforward as the likes of ZuluDesk, but once it's up and running we haven't had that much in the way of problems.

 

A couple of things that InTune can't seem to do that annoy me:

• Setting a background image on iOS
  
• Displaying the device name on the lock screen
  

[Bev]

I use the free Mosyle on 90+ ipads and it works great. Can't see any point in paying for something else to be honest.

[ADMaster]

Sorry to hijack, but does anyone have experience with both Mosyle and Intune?

 

Our agreement is changing this summer, in MS is basically forcing cloud stuff / Intune into the agreement.

I’ve been paying for meraki but it’s a bit expensive. I was considering switching to Mosyle this summer.

 

What’s better, Mosyle or Intune?

 

Thanks

[kidpressingbuttons]

+ Mosyle. We were on the free version for a while but now on the paid as it was so impressive.

 

We are moving the whole school over to it this summer. We are an Apple school so only have macs and iPads.

[AlanD]

..what is wrong with Apple's own profile manager...apart from the fact that its free?

 

...No I agree...its not as feature rich as some of the other mentioned...but it locks down the ipads,,allows you to deploy apps (from VPP), etc

 

The real problem with it for most users - is that because its free - no one is going to hold their hand to set it up....which isn't rocket science...but does need a bit of investigation.

 

 

But personally, I 'd start with it - for free...and then decide if I really wanted the other features the paid for models provided.

 

And definately get yourself appleclassroom - which allows shared use of devices and monitoring etc....

[Jamman960]

Profile manager doesn’t scale very well from what I’ve been told, I seem to remember it having trouble once it hits 200 devices.

[Blue_Cookeh]

Also it lacks very basic features like iCloud lock bypass (unless it's changed a lot recently)

[ADMaster]

When Meraki free did not support push apps with the vpp device license that came with IOS 9 I moved from Meraki free to profile manager. I spent hours on the phone with apple and eventually bought Meraki. I gave it a good month and a half of effort.

 

I don't recall all the issues I had with it but, I think the biggest issue was bulk actions. I had about 250 devices on it.

Meraki Pros were ease of use, worked off site, had the location map, reporting on what device have / are missing apps.

 

Ipad use is declining, we're still on ios 9 with ipad 3's so I don't really need all the bells and whistles. I just want to silently push vpp apps to devices, set restrictions and wifi profiles. Off site / map would be nice for when a device grows legs. Reporting to troubleshoot issues.

In meraki I find the device and can see a list of actions, it may say no vpp license available. Profile Manager I'd have to dig through log files and may or may not get as helpful info.

[markwilfan]

Also it lacks very basic features like iCloud lock bypass (unless it's changed a lot recently)

Yeh does device activation lock code storage. We use it for 120 devices. Just about copes but sometimes we have to double reboot it as it gets itself in a tizz

[netadmin]

We used to use the free version of Meraki, but after Cisco started limiting feature updates on the free version, we migrated to Miradore. Miradore is simple, but very reliable and a great price point given we only have a small number of iPads.

[Brimstone]

..what is wrong with Apple's own profile manager...apart from the fact that its free?

 

...No I agree...its not as feature rich as some of the other mentioned...but it locks down the ipads,,allows you to deploy apps (from VPP), etc

 

The real problem with it for most users - is that because its free - no one is going to hold their hand to set it up....which isn't rocket science...but does need a bit of investigation.

 

 

But personally, I 'd start with it - for free...and then decide if I really wanted the other features the paid for models provided.

 

And definately get yourself appleclassroom - which allows shared use of devices and monitoring etc....

 

Profile Manager is quite possibly the worst MDM you should invest in (can crash at any time, will not push content every time, does not support .pkg's, does not support AD Authentication, good luck with configuring DNS)

 

I also wish tech's on here would stop confusing Apple Classroom with Shared iPad.

 

They are 2 completely separate Apple technologies, neither of them needs the other. You can use Apple Classroom on it's own, Shared iPad on it's own. Or both together, which is best.

[AlanD]

Well you don't have to invest in Apple's profile manager (or at least not any money ...because its free).

 

It works just fine....for all the basic stuff....although there are reports of problems when you get to hundreds of devices...which is not our case.....

[markwilfan]

Profile Manager is quite possibly the worst MDM you should invest in (can crash at any time, will not push content every time, does not support .pkg's, does not support AD Authentication, good luck with configuring DNS)

 

I also wish tech's on here would stop confusing Apple Classroom with Shared iPad.

 

They are 2 completely separate Apple technologies, neither of them needs the other. You can use Apple Classroom on it's own, Shared iPad on it's own. Or both together, which is best.

Just for the record our staff use AD auth enrollment of idevices. Also DNS????? Are you now talking about server manager?

[Theseus]

Does anybody know if Mosyle works ok with LGfL and their firewall rules?