Managing ipads - for the first time

[timbo343]

I need a bit of advice on how to manage 1 ipad that will be used for a student who has severe sight issues - maybe @stgoodyeara could help on this?

 

We have never had to manage iPads as we are a Windows / Google school.

 

The ipad comes with the student and has been used at a primary school and has been managed through the primary school's VPP platform / Apple School Manager.

 

A couple of questions have come to light from my POV.

- should we set up an Apple School Manager and add the iPad to this?

- can we manage the iPad via Google Workspace or should we add it to our Intune platform?

- what is the best way to apply filtering to this device? Should it be done via Radius? If this is the best way, i'm going to have to set up it's own SSID for this purpose.

 

Any other hints / tips / good pointers that people can give will be welcomed.

[chrisgreenwood]

you will more likely need ASM for any ipad that you want to manage.

 

Jamf may also work, it will cost you like £5 as is easily done but i don't know about google workspace as we use jamf .

 

On our network we use securly and we make a profile that forces it onto the ipad for web filtering

[Cache]

You could set up Mosyle which is free and fairly easy to use. Enrol the iPad in Apple School Manager and use DEP to enrol it into Mosyle. That way you can still control/manage/buy/own any apps along with ensuring any restrictions you want are applied.

 

What do you use for filtering currently?

[timbo343]

You could set up Mosyle which is free and fairly easy to use. Enrol the iPad in Apple School Manager and use DEP to enrol it into Mosyle. That way you can still control/manage/buy/own any apps along with ensuring any restrictions you want are applied.

 

What do you use for filtering currently?

We are using Smoothwall for filtering so looking to do the whole disable Sarafi and push out the Smoothwall Browser. I'm hoping to put Impero on it too.

 

The way it was set up at primary was via a static IP and any filtrring reports referenced that IP address however now we need to identify the student rather than the IP.

 

I suppose things are a little easier what with the iPad not being a shared device so this is why i was thinking about using Radius to authenticate the user whilst browsing the net rather than the Smoothwall SSL login page via NTLM auth.

 

Will take a look at Mosyle though i have read Google Workspace can manage it too as can Intune so i've got a few options to look into.

 

It's just another thing to manage.

[computer_expert]

Will take a look at Mosyle though i have read Google Workspace can manage it too as can Intune so i've got a few options to look into.

 

You'd be better off managing the iPad via Intune. Intune isn't great for managing iPads/Macs, but google workspace is much, much worse for managing iPads (when I last tried it a few years ago. Not sure if it's improved since). I went with the paid version of Mosyle to manage our iPads and that has been going strong ever since.

 

I found I had to to a lot of hands on set up with each iPad on workspace compared to Mosyle.

[timbo343]

You'd be better off managing the iPad via Intune. Intune isn't great for managing iPads/Macs, but google workspace is much, much worse for managing iPads (when I last tried it a few years ago. Not sure if it's improved since). I went with the paid version of Mosyle to manage our iPads and that has been going strong ever since.

 

I found I had to to a lot of hands on set up with each iPad on workspace compared to Mosyle.

Have registered for Mosyle ans waiting for ASM to verify the submitted form. Looking to use the Free version as i've got under 30 devices.

 

Will see what Mosyle can do for us - thank you.

[timbo343]

So, Apple School Manager set up and Mosyle setup however how do i add a iPad to Apple School Manager that hasn't been provided by a reseller?

[robintech]

Apple configurator can add it, think you have to turn off "Find My" and sign out of iCloud on the iPad before starting the process. Anyone can remove it in the next 30 days but then it is permanently joined same as reseller code ones.

[Brax]

So, Apple School Manager set up and Mosyle setup however how do i add a iPad to Apple School Manager that hasn't been provided by a reseller?

We use apple configurator 2 to do that.

[Passat1983ICTech]

I would Intune manged apps and police from one place

[Cache]

Just check it's been fully released from the Primary School's Apple School Manager too.

 

Once enrolled in Mosyle, it's easy to push out apps/Smoothwall interception certificate (assuming it's still needed with their browser, I'm out of the loop on that one).

Edited July 29, 2023 by Cache

[jadzea]

You might want to look at Lightspeed for MDM and filtering.

[timbo343]

You'd be better off managing the iPad via Intune. Intune isn't great for managing iPads/Macs, but google workspace is much, much worse for managing iPads (when I last tried it a few years ago. Not sure if it's improved since). I went with the paid version of Mosyle to manage our iPads and that has been going strong ever since.

 

I found I had to to a lot of hands on set up with each iPad on workspace compared to Mosyle.

 

Thanks for recommending Mosyle, it seems to fit the bill on what I want. I've got the iPad set up so that the student will use their own personal icloud account (this will be set up and managed by their parent). The management interface seems easier enough to navigate and for one ipad it's going to do the job. Also since Mosyle is free for up to 30 devices, we are possibly going to look at it for each of our schools that use iPads.

 

Thank you again.

Edited August 1, 2023 by timbo343