Shared iPads - Unknown Error Occurred

[Bird97]

Not sure what subject to put this under or weather anyone is as daft as us to use Shares iPads, but we have been having issues with people not being able to login error just says “unknown error occurred” wondering if anyone has ran into something similar? We are running out of ideas apart from just blaming Apple

[iPadLady]

We are experiencing the same thing here.  Past two weeks start of semester has went fine, then suddenly this week many students are getting the "unknown error occurred" message when attempting to sign in to shared iPad.  It seems to be occurring randomly, every class session sometimes it will only be 1 student in a room or like earlier today multiple rooms with over 50% unable to login. 

 

Things we have tried:

• Switching user to a different iPad - does not work
• Hard restarting iPad - does not work
• Making sure all management commands are cleared, no sync pending users, sending restart command before class starts - not really helping
• Resetting student iPad passcode via ASM - typically works, but we have way too many students with the issue to consistently reset passcodes. And as you'll see in the next bullet point we're not sure this is the solution since students are entering the same correct password they've used the past 2 weeks.
• Doing absolutely nothing (maybe a hard reboot) and waiting 20-30 minutes before student tries to login again - sometimes working???! 

 

@Bird97 Have you found anything out the past couple days? Your post here was the only one I found when trying to research the issue. In the meantime we are directing students seeing the error to just login as Guest on the iPad or some are using personal devices. But this is really a big hangup in our environment right now and we are at a loss as to the cause. 

[Bird97]

Exact same issue! So glad to find this post I have been tearing my hair out it seems completely random it doesn’t work give it a few attempts sometimes works sometimes never works switching ssid seems to work initially then it stops working on that ssid I managed to find a support number for apple business and education today and they are collect logs from some iPads just hoping they come back with something because we are out of ideas if I hear anything I will let you know asap!

[iPadLady]

Good to hear you're still seeing the issue on multiple ssid - we are always questioning network here as it has been the culprit in the past but am skeptical that is the issue this time around.  Hopefully Apple finds something in the logs and gets back to you soon.  We are still trying different things here, but am thinking it has got to be an account or server side issue.  I'll definitely keep checking back here and will share if we make any breakthroughs on our side too.

[MindPixelated]

I just got off the phone with Apple and explained that this issue affects more than just our organization. I sent them several files and demonstrated what I’m experiencing and the steps I’m taking. Hopefully, they’ll identify a fix soon. Managing multiple classes at same time, it is difficult when several people are unable to log in to their shared devices.

 

 

 

[Bird97]

Fingers crossed we have almost 500 of them so we are properly having a nightmare with it. I would agree it’s almost like sometimes the traffic hits the right server on apples side sometimes it hits one that isn’t working properly. We had recently implemented MFA for students here so assumed that was causing it but after turning it off it’s still happening. Just glad it’s not just us at this point 

[synaesthesia]

Been keeping half an eye on this thread, as I'm just venturing into shared ipad mode for the first time. Small number of devices though.

Hoping it isn't having an effect on me trying to set this up with simple Google Workspace federation.

 

Apple's whole process for this is beyond diabolical. I hated them before, I *despise* them now! Not fit for purpose.

So apparently I have to wait 30 days because of 38 accounts I have nothing to do with using the domain name. I can't see what accounts those are. After that 30 days, Apple renames/changes those accounts so they're no longer locked to the domain then I can do what is needed.

Trying to test this with one user I could do something with, but password has long been forgotten. The password reset system for Apple is laughable - first I have to do it on an Apple device. Stupid, but OK - do that, it goes through the process and prompts for a trusted phone number, provide mine which I know is there - then it asks me for a pin code for a random iPad I also have nothing to do with. Thanks. The only other way around is to put in a reset request with Apple which may take several days.

If Tim Cook walked in here as part of some random retirement tour, I'd hand him to the year 8s for a flushing and beating.

 

A while ago, I made a positive comment on another thread about how Apple might be turning a corner - repairability and usage scenarios outside of the pure consumer level.

I take it all back.

 

And I still haven't been able to make a start on shared iPad mode; I'm preparing to tell our PE department the shiny new iPads they bought will be useless for at least another month.

[MindPixelated]

Setting up our shared iPads a few years ago was a difficult undertaking. We manage 800 shared devices, each supporting up to 15 users; while the initial configuration was challenging, management became much more efficient once established, especially since the same apps are utilized across departments.

 

Operating at the university level allowed us to federate our accounts, which simplified the process and made resetting passcodes much easier. Our use of Jamf Pro has also been a significant help in managing the fleet.

Because we lack a Student Information System (SIS), we developed an SFTP upload process for our classes. Although this required a considerable time to implement, it has resulted in significant cost savings. Currently, our biggest obstacle is the network infrastructure required to support a single building full of iPads.

 

 

 

[synaesthesia]

I can imagine. I'm hankering after a decent MDM like JAMF but stuck with Mosyle Free for now, however that's not really of much help at the moment, we're just at the mercy of Apple's system

Certainly theoretically it should make life easy - the goal for us is to ensure shared devices are KCSIE compliant and this seems to be the best way of achieving that. SSO with Google accounts will be a piece of cake assuming it works. Can't see why it shouldn't; if we can make a user sign onto a Chromebook with a Microsoft account and one log into a Windows computer with a Google account, it should be easy

[MindPixelated]

Still waiting on the fix for this issue.  Apple did not escalate when I opened the ticket. They say within 4 days from today.  Guest accounts for a while longer.

 

 

 

[Bird97]

Not to jinx anything but we haven't had any issues this week, all shared iPads have been logging on fine had no reply from apple or any update about whether they have actually fixed something but all seems good right now how about everyone else?

[MindPixelated]

I can't imagine Apple would fix this issue without telling us.  Hmmmm

We will be testing here.

[iPadLady]

The issue is much improved for us this week as well.  We have seen the error on a few iPads today still, so I am skeptical the issue has been truly fully fixed, but it is not at the scale we saw last week.  We were initially resetting iPad passcodes to bypass the error, but stopped as it became too overwhelming.  I have not gotten anything helpful from the ticket I opened with Apple over a week ago.  I sent videos and logs as they requested last week but don't think anyone has looked at them.  Very frustrating and sounds like others here aren't having any better luck.  We are continuing to monitor classes closely this week.     

[MindPixelated]

Apple has requested additional information even though I have already provided a Sysdiagnose report. They are now asking for another report collected in Debug mode, which is difficult because the correct user account and device must be identified before enabling it. The process is unnecessarily complicated, and the repeated requests for additional information are extending the issue without clear progress.

I plan on keeping you all informed.