[ipad] Meraki SM - App Restrictions not working?

[Koldov]

We have a number of old iPad mini 2 that we are currently trying to repurpose and give to the SEN department.

 

They are in DUX cases, work fine and hold battery charge well.

 

Honestly it depresses me no end that we've had to send hundreds to recycling over the last few years, so I was determined to try and get these into a state where we could get some sort of use out of them.

 

They're running iOS 12.5.7 and obviously being old (and 'not secure' apparently) I need to limit what can be done on them, so tried to use Meraki SM to limit the apps. We only want to allow a couple of speech therapy apps and maybe Youtube Kids, camera, etc.

 

However, although I'm sure it worked once upon a time, I can't seem to get it to play ball anymore. Neither 'Only allow the following apps' or 'Do not allow the following apps' seems to make any difference...

 

They are supervised, enrolled, got a relevant profile targeted correctly to iPads with a particular tag and although I get that they're not supported for a lot of the settings which are dependant on later iOS versions, this restriction according to my research should work for iOS 11 onwards...

[ToyHeartsFan]

If you had hundreds of them then you would have had to pay for Meraki client licences so might be entitled to support unlike the free Meraki accounts. I used Meraki's Kiosk mode on Android tablets and the allowed / disallowed list on a handful of iPads, the android tablets would sometimes drop out of KIOSK mode and need to have the profile re applied but the ipads just worked. It's possible an update broke support on legacy devices or there could be a problem with your Meraki setup e.g. an expired certificate etc.

 

A 30 second search of the app store and "Youtube Kids" requires IOS 14, the top 4 results when searching for "Speech therapy" required ios 13, 14 or 15.

 

Apple have always had a cut off date for support this would have been known when the iPads were ordered and should have been factored into the schools ICT development plan.

 

The iPads should have been replaced when they became EOL, yes I know how school budgets work and was made redundant along with most of the support staff when the numbers no longer added up but you can't polish a ****. iPad mini 2 was released in 2013 and hasn't been sold since 2017 so you have had them for between 7 and 11 years it's time to throw them in the recycling bin and instead spend the time working with SLT / the ICT lead to write a new ICT development plan because if you are trying to use 11 year old iPads there are probably other things that need replacing to keep your network secure.

Edited May 7, 2024 by ToyHeartsFan

[Brimstone]

If you had hundreds of them then you would have had to pay for Meraki client licences so might be entitled to support unlike the free Meraki accounts. I used Meraki's Kiosk mode on Android tablets and the allowed / disallowed list on a handful of iPads, the android tablets would sometimes drop out of KIOSK mode and need to have the profile re applied but the ipads just worked. It's possible an update broke support on legacy devices or there could be a problem with your Meraki setup e.g. an expired certificate etc.

 

A 30 second search of the app store and "Youtube Kids" requires IOS 14, the top 4 results when searching for "Speech therapy" required ios 13, 14 or 15.

 

Apple have always had a cut off date for support this would have been known when the iPads were ordered and should have been factored into the schools ICT development plan.

 

The iPads should have been replaced when they became EOL, yes I know how school budgets work and was made redundant along with most of the support staff when the numbers no longer added up but you can't polish a ****. iPad mini 2 was released in 2013 and hasn't been sold since 2017 so you have had them for between 7 and 11 years it's time to throw them in the recycling bin and instead spend the time working with SLT / the ICT lead to write a new ICT development plan because if you are trying to use 11 year old iPads there are probably other things that need replacing to keep your network secure.

That's one of the best answers I've ever seen on here..