Apple Business Manager

[BremdanJohnso]

Can't believe how difficult this has been. We're looking at replacing our between 2-5 year old various Android devices with a bulk of iPhone 6s. I purchased one from Amazon so I could get the configuration down, automate the set up as much as possible and roll it out.

I've connected Apple Business Manager to our MDM which is Cisco Meraki Systems Manager. The iPhone wasn't purchased through an authorised reseller so I need to add it manually (it's on iOS 12.something so from what I've read in Apples manual this should be possible).

Do I still need to use Apple Configurator to do this? Going to ABM > Device Assignments and entering the serial doesn't work (I'm assuming because it's not linked to us in anyway).

I can connect it to Cisco manually and it works fine, I'd just like to be able to do it through Apple Business Manager and then automate the connection and deployment of apps through Meraki.

[ConnorL]

Hey @BremdanJohnso  👋🏻 

Sounds like you're wanting to add these iPhone 6S' to your Apple Business Manager account for the purposes of ADE (Automated Device Enrolment). As you mentioned, because these were purchased not from an authorized reseller for device enrolment (see Apple's list here) you will need to use Apple Configurator to import them into your account.

We have a KB article that explains how to do this: https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Device_Enrollment/Enrolling_and_Supervising_iOS_Devices_using_Ap...

Once the device(s) are enrolled into your ABM account, make sure you assign the correct server (see step 8 from the linked KB) and you'll then see the device(s) under System Manager > ADE. You can then assign your ADE profile and factory reset the phone, it'll automatically enrol into your SM instance and download the apps and profiles you've configured.

If you have any questions, feel free to bump this thread or contact Support.

Cheers,

Connor

[PhilipDAth]

Special note - Apple Configurator is not available on Windows anymore.  You have to run Apple Configure on a Mac to do this.

[PaulF]

Further to @ConnorL post, you can also watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbFaQcAmc2s

I would add: Do NOT forget to add the wifi profile if adding to ADE only (and then enrolling at a later date: It will probably fail)