Monitoring iPad usage?

[Bev]

I am struggling to find an acceptable way to monitor pupils ipad use?

 

We have paid a lot of money for Relay but it just doesn't work very well - it only reports on webpages visited but not on what was actually typed on the page. And it frequently chooses to block every single website, even ones that are explicitly white-listed. Also if the kids delete the Relay app it stops monitoring them. Pro's - it works with Chrome and Safari.

 

I also have Netsupport DNA, I much prefer the reporting on this, and I can force the kids to use the browser by hiding all other browsers. If they delete the app then they have no browser at all. The issue is the browser is really old-fashioned and doesn't support many of the latest IOS features, such as split screen, or reading mode. Our staff use these features with their classes so they don't want to use this 'clunky' browser.

 

Has anyone got another option they can recommend?

[Brimstone]

Why are you allowing studentd to delete the Relay app?

 

Just add a restriction to disallow deleting of apps?

[Bev]

It's not that straightforward. You can't prevent deletion of some apps and not others, it's all or nothin. As our iPads are paid for by the parents they are allowed to put their own apps on them, which means they need to be able to delete their personal apps. If they remove Relay it will redownload but it will be missing for 10-15 minutes.

[DGardiner]

It's not that straightforward. You can't prevent deletion of some apps and not others, it's all or nothin. As our iPads are paid for by the parents they are allowed to put their own apps on them, which means they need to be able to delete their personal apps. If they remove Relay it will redownload but it will be missing for 10-15 minutes.

use your MDM to lock removing apps whilst on site/on the wifi/between hours so they cant mess about at school

[Bev]

use your MDM to lock removing apps whilst on site/on the wifi/between hours so they cant mess about at school

 

that is a good idea.

[Brimstone]

use your MDM to lock removing apps whilst on site/on the wifi/between hours so they cant mess about at school

I was just going to say the same, one of Lightspeed's best features is to have an "on premise" profile and restrictions and an "off premise" profile.

 

It's true that Lightspeed can really struggle when you have hundreds of devices to manage, but Relay is a really fantasic product that uses Safari. Other filtering solutions with their own web browser cause no end of issues by breaking whenever there is a iOS update and the browsers features are still in the days when we used Windows 95'

 

I'd strongly advise taking a look at Jamf if you want to get the very, very best iOS only MDM solution.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Brimstone

[Bev]

However, Relay still only gives a list of websites, whereas DNA gives context on the website and a screen shot if something inappropriate is typed.

 

Are there any other alternatives? Just so I can assess my options.

[nathan]

However, Relay still only gives a list of websites, whereas DNA gives context on the website and a screen shot if something inappropriate is typed.

 

Are there any other alternatives? Just so I can assess my options.

 

In my opinion, Relay and NetSupport are two completely different products with Relay being website filtering - it's not a normal feature of a web filter to grab screenshots etc so you may find it hard to find one that does.

[RLR]

I think most of the monitoring issues is because Apples Framework doesn't allow developers to create these sort of apps. The best thing we can up with was using our firewall to generate safe guarding reports. It will pick up any keywords from the main search engines and email the relevant people. We have a proxy pac file setup so students are also forced to login to the schools firewall when outside of the school network so they still get filtering (bit less restrictive though).

[richmackie]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but surely this is a really common issue? I understand Impero has the ability to monitor iPads - has anybody tried that?

[RLR]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but surely this is a really common issue? I understand Impero has the ability to monitor iPads - has anybody tried that?

 

Common = Yes

Easy working reliable solution = No

 

Any type of internet monitoring on an iPad will require a specific browser for the company to monitor unless you do the monitoring yourself through your firewall.

If you want to view student iPad screens, you can use Apple School Manager and setup classes in an MDM.

[Bev]

We’ve been struggling with this for some time.

 

Relay offers me no more Information than my firewall so I won’t be renewing that.

 

Netsupport provides much more useful information when they are using the specific netsupport browser but no Information in other apps used. Ie if an inappropriate message is sent through iMessage or email we wouldn’t be able to pick that up.

 

 

Apple classroom is ok when a class is actively using their iPads but it requires a teacher to be looking at the app.

 

 

I think my issue is we are spoiled with Netsupport on the PC which provides so much information. But we’ve now moved to 1-1 iPad use and there isn’t anything that can offer a similar level of information.

[RLR]

We’ve been struggling with this for some time.

 

Relay offers me no more Information than my firewall so I won’t be renewing that.

 

Netsupport provides much more useful information when they are using the specific netsupport browser but no Information in other apps used. Ie if an inappropriate message is sent through iMessage or email we wouldn’t be able to pick that up.

 

 

Apple classroom is ok when a class is actively using their iPads but it requires a teacher to be looking at the app.

 

 

I think my issue is we are spoiled with Netsupport on the PC which provides so much information. But we’ve now moved to 1-1 iPad use and there isn’t anything that can offer a similar level of information.

 

This is our experience. Tried several solutions but none work well enough and miss a lot out. We actually find our own firewall does a better job so we look at keyword searches and have the firewall (fortigate) email reports and search terms to the relevant people.

 

We have iMessage disabled on iPads so we don't need to worry about messaging on that.

[richmackie]

We don't have a dedicated firewall but we do have School Manager and Lightspeed MDM so I'll have a look at what I can do with those.

[Bev]

You can add 'Relay' to lightspeed mdm, it's a similar price to the MDM again.

 

This will give you websites that have been visited and blocked and the time they were being used. You can also block specific websites.

 

If you don't have access to firewall information then it could be useful, but for me it duplicates the information I can get from our firewall.

[Brimstone]

@Bev

 

I would definately look at Securly, this seems to do a far better job with iOS

 

https://www.securly.com

[richmackie]

Securly looks expensive though if the free offering for Chromebooks is still a thing (looks like it isn't but maybe it's just well hidden) that would obviously be worth exploring. Though that solves a different problem.

[mavhc]

Does anyone make an iOS keyboard app that would help with filtering/logging?

[Brimstone]

Does anyone make an iOS keyboard app that would help with filtering/logging?

 

There is no keylogging app, this is due to iOS security preventing MITM attacks...

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Securly looks expensive though if the free offering for Chromebooks is still a thing (looks like it isn't but maybe it's just well hidden) that would obviously be worth exploring. Though that solves a different problem.

 

It's not....