j224

No problem!

Thanks for the heads up. iOS 7 seems to be getting mixed reviews. Not sure whether to upgrade or not. Even Mountain Lion had a lot of bad reviews on the App Store but we don't seem to have a choice if we want to use Configurator!

Yes, appleism indeed. I'm now downloading Mountain Lion, which will then allow me to install Configurator 1.4, which might allow me to keep using iOS6? Or will it still automatically update to iOS7 the second I connect an iPad to the Mac?

But I didn't think iTunes is able to manage paid apps/volume licensing in the same way as Configurator?

There must be a simple way to stop Configurator trying to download the latest iOS version. According to the documentation, if you want to upgrade the iOS, you have to press the 'Check for Update' button in the 'Supervise' section. But it seems, even if we don't press that button, it still checks for the latest version and automatically tries to install it. So annoying!

Just install the Simple Transfer app. There's a free version that limits you to downloading 50 photos at a time. The paid version removes the restriction and is very cheap if you're worried you'll only use it once.

I thought disconnecting from the Wifi might help, but it still seems to attempt to download the iOS update and begin to decompress it. Maybe I will have to upgrade afterall...

Hello, There's quite a few threads popping up about Configurator and iOS7 but I've decided to stick with iOS6 for a bit longer. We have a cart of 16 iPads and I use Configurator to manage them. I'm running OSX 10.7.5 on the iMac so we can't upgrade to the latest version of Configurator. I haven't updated the iPads for a while and there's a few apps I want to add so I plug in the cart as normal and after a few seconds, Configurator crashes. First it says it's retrieving iOS info from Apple, then it starts decompressing the iOS and then it crashes. I assume it's trying to download iOS7 automatically and then realises that it can't because I'm on an old version of Configurator. My question is- how do I stop it downloading iOS7 and simply let me add a few apps to the iPads? Thanks!

Apparently the latest version of Configurator (1.4) allows supervised iPads to be connected to other Macs. Doesn't mention PC's though?

We use the Simple Transfer app. It gives you a URL which you can visit from any computer connected to the same network and then select which files you want to download. It works ok as long as your wifi connection is fast enough.

We have 16 iPads with the same iTunes account and use Configurator to manage them. The volume licensing works fine.

I don't know for sure because I haven't used Meraki, we just use Configurator. But in Configurator's preferences there is a checkbox saying 'Remove apps not installed by Configurator'. Try unchecking that.

If the iPad is 'supervised' with Configurator then you can install a profile to remove the ability to delete apps. You will only be able to remove them through Configurator.

We use a school credit card to purchase apps through the VPP store.

Use it to create an iTunes account without a credit card- Creating an iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store account without a credit card Follow the steps under the 'Creating an account on a computer' heading on that page. You'll then use the VPP Facilitator account to buy apps via the online store and use the iTunes account to download free apps and redeem the codes which you will download from the VPP.

Good explanation SovietRussia. It can be a tricky process.

You create a different email address to the one you are using with the VPP and then use that to setup an iTunes account.

The official way is to redeem in iTunes using one code, then go back to the VPP and re-download the spreadsheet to regain the code.

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Nope, not tried it but would be interested to find out if you do get it working. You're probably better off getting Frog OS which is tablet friendly and is being rolled out to schools as we speak.

Yeah. I haven't tried but I would imagine restoring from a backup would work and remove the passcode if one had been set. I reckon most of our kids don't know the passcode can be set and at the primary age they don't wish to do anything too malicious anyway. I heard other schools with a 1-1 setup have included the wifi settings in the profile so if a child removed the profile then they would also lose Internet access, which acts as a deterrent. As I said, we've not had any issue though.

Have you actually had any children change the settings? We just use Apple Configurator and have had no trouble in the few months we've been using the iPads.

I agree with the post above. It's all about the planning. We have 16 iPads that we share around a primary school of about 230 students. We also have 32 laptops and an ICT suite with 35 PCs. The pupils have been a lot more creative since we got the iPads a few months ago- being able to record themselves reading their literacy and performing actions for example. The teacher can then watch them back anytime and grade more accurately. If we're talking maths then there's many good apps- Brain Labs, DoodleMaths, King of Maths, Math Bingo, Math Party, Motion Maths, Number Line, Pizza Fractions, Sakura Quick Math, Learn Maths with Beluga to name a few. The iPads don't replace the laptops/PCs, we still use My Maths, I Am Learning, Multi Step Maths, but it certainly offers an engaging alternative.

I read that adding profiles at the prepare stage doesn't work. Is that still the case? Also, if they are unsupervised and you install paid apps through Configurator, you're not able to reclaim the VPP codes when the student leaves the school? This is just what I've read. We've setup all our iPads to be supervised.

I think Apple's excuse is that iPads set up in a school environment using Configurator means that no student can connect it to any computer to put files onto the device. If you have a 1 to 1 setup with students having their own iPad that they're allowed to take home, then you might not want them adding/removing files. It does of course create a major problem if you DO want the student to be able to do this themselves, or even allow their teacher to take photos/videos off. We use Configurator to manage 16 iPads at school and I hope Apple do change this in the near future. We use an app called SimplTransfer which shows you the IP address of that device which you navigate to on your PC/Mac internet browser. You can then select which photos/videos you want to download and then we manually remove all the files afterwards to free up space for the next class to use them.