Apple School Manager

Apple School Manager was discussed in the session titled "What’s new in device management" at WWDC 2024. Here are some key points covered:

1. Overview and Deployment:

   • Apple School Manager is a free web-based portal for IT administrators that works in conjunction with third-party MDM solutions to deploy devices, view inventory, purchase apps in volume, and manage user accounts.
   • Automated device enrollment is available for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, and is now extended to Apple Vision Pro with VisionOS 2.0. This allows IT teams to enroll devices into MDM without physically touching them (What’s new in device management).

2. Account Management:

   • Organizations can now capture Apple accounts using their domain without needing to connect to an identity provider. Users can convert their existing accounts into managed Apple accounts, which will be added to the organization in Apple School Manager if no action is taken within 30 days (What’s new in device management).

3. Activation Lock:

   • Apple School Manager now allows administrators to turn off activation lock for organization-owned devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. This feature helps in cases where activation lock is left on unintentionally, preventing device reprovisioning (What’s new in device management).

4. Software Update Management:

   • A new software update settings configuration replaces all legacy MDM software update management commands, profiles, and restrictions. This can be used on supervised devices with iOS and iPadOS 18 and macOS 15 or later (What’s new in device management).

5. Data Separation:

   • Managed Apple accounts enable data separation in iCloud Drive, Notes, Reminders, and more. Personal data remains private even on organization-owned devices (What’s new in device management).

For a detailed overview, you can refer to the session What’s new in device management.