Location services does not list Meraki MDM and MDM Settings does not list location

[Dieselwurks]

Greetings,

iOS 12.2 does not list Meraki MDM in the list of apps that I can allow to use Location Services. When I open Meraki MDM settings, location is not listed.

Any ideas?

Privacy -> Location Services lists many apps but Meraki MDM is not in that list.

[Dieselwurks]

This is the weirdest thing. If I turn *off* location services, the settings for the Meraki MDM app now show a location permission set to never. But when I turn Location Services back on, this option vanishes.

[Dieselwurks]

Here's what the app is saying:

Location tracking permissions are not defined.

[PeterJames]

Hi @Dieselwurks ,

Seen in: iOS Systems Manager v2.5.1

I discovered this the other day. You need to open, force close and then re-open the Systems Manager App for it to ask about Location. By iOS design - until the App asks for permission, the iOS does not know it wants permission.

Does this help? I had raised case 03821949 when I discovered this.

Thank you,

Peter James

[alexis_cazalaa]

you don't necessarily need to force close it, just close.

[PeterJames]

Thanks @alexis_cazalaa ,

With iOS an app never closes until either forced or the device is powered off. But definitely good to know minimizing/pausing and un-pausing the Systems Manager App produces the permission question 😄

[Dieselwurks]

Thanks for the responses. I’m to the point where Meraki MDM now has Location listed in it’s settings. I think it was absent earlier because background app refresh was off because the battery was low.

The new issue is that although location is set to “Always” Meraki MDM still reports:

”Tracking is disabled. Please check system settings for Location Privacy and Background Refresh.”

Both are on.

Closing, killing, and rebooting did not fix this.

Thanks!

[PeterJames]

Hi @Dieselwurks ,

Glad we are further along! Do you have 'Allow location tracking' un-ticked in a profile applied to the device?

Thank you,

Peter James

[Dieselwurks]

Hi @PeterJames !

There are two profiles on this device:

Meraki Management

and one other in which I added 'Privacy and Lock' and ticked 'Allow location tracking'.

Removing this second profile did not fix the problem.

This is so weird. I have three devices. In Meraki they are currently in the state: "GPS Location Services Disabled"

Hans: (unsupervised) Meraki SDM has a red X beside Location and says: "Tracking is disabled. Please check system settings for Location Privacy and Background Refresh". Settings say Location: Always Background App Refresh: On.

Alex: (supervised) Meraki SDM has a green checkmark beside Location but also says "Location tracking permissions are not defined." Settings say Location: Always Background App Refresh: On.

Baba: (supervised) Meraki SDM has a green checkmark beside Location but also says "Location tracking permissions are not defined." Settings say Location: Always Background App Refresh: On.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Chad Matsalla

[PeterJames]

Hi @Dieselwurks ,

It sounds like you might have overlapping profiles; might be worth checking how profile priorities work.

I would approach this in two ways;

If possible, strip  all the profiles off one device and build it up until your GPS says disabled.

Or, alternatively create a new network and do the same thing

(But Meraki Support would be your best bet if at all possible 😀)

[Dieselwurks]

So for jokes I created a security policy and ticked "Require user to authorize location tracking".

Now the devices show a red X next to compliant. You are not compliant for the following reasons: (). User did not authorize location tracking.

[Dieselwurks]

The two supervised devices now work. I'll put my solution here in case it applies to anybody else.

It was not overlapping profiles but thank you for suggesting that @PeterJames !

In the Meraki dashboard I went to Apps and checked Meraki SDM. Push -> Push To Installed. This forced a reinstall on the devices. The two supervised devices (Alex and Baba) are now showing Compliant and "Location tracking is enabled".

However...

Hans, the unsupervised device, is still not working.

It seems that Meraki MDM has a setting somewhere that remembers whether you authorized location tracking but doesn't actually check if it's currently enabled.

I tried removing Meraki MDM from Hans using the Meraki dashboard. This did not solve the problem.

I removed the app from the phone manually and tried the above. The phone gave the "App Installation dialog". I pressed install, it installed, asked me to allow notifications, did *not* ask to use location, and lists as non-compliant and without location. Now, the settings does not include Location and Privacy->Location does not list Meraki MDM (it's back to the state I reported at the beginning of this thread.

[Dieselwurks]

I guess I give up. I removed the management profile and Meraki MDM, then reinstalled Meraki MDM and re-enrolled the phone. It asked me to enable Location Services, but Location services was already enabled. I turned it off and then back on but this did not solve the problem.

If someone solves this in the future please let me know.

Thanks!

Chad Matsalla