Meraki MDM with Apple Devices

[xvang]

I am having to go through and create many Apple IDs with my Apple iPods & iPads when setting up with Meraki MDM. I am just wanting to know what others out there are doing in this case with iPads/iPods and the Meraki MDM.

A little info on what I have to setup:

30 ipads and 20 ipods

As for now, I am having to create 1 Apple ID for 10 of the ipad since only 10 devices are able to using the same Apple ID. So as you could guess it, I have 3 separate apple ids for my Ipads and 2 separate ids for my ipods.

How are others out there managing apple devices with Meraki MDM? Do you also have multiple Apple IDs?

--I have setup our Agency with Apple Business and I could login. I setup the MDM server within Apple Business and added the Meraki Key & Token, but I guess I am not quite sure how adding the Meraki MDM onto Apple Business works since none of the devices that I currently have in my Meraki MDM is shown in Apple Business.

[PhilipDAth]

You shouldn't need to use Apple ID's at all.  You should be able to use the VPP (Volume Purchase Program) and buy the licences as a company, rather than individually via an Apple ID.

https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Apps_and_Software/Using_Apple%E2%80%99s_Volume_Purchase_Program_...

[vassallon · Accepted solution]

With the ability to push apps to the device instead of downloading through the App store, I see no reason why you would need to create Apple IDs. 

What are you trying to accomplish with the Apple IDs? 

With Apple Business Manager the iPads will be assigned to your Meraki automatically and allow you to push settings to the iPads. ABM is designed as a portal for purchasing of Apps/Books and setting up who can buy content for your devices and DEP assign devices into Meraki.

[xvang]

Not really trying to accomplish anything with the Apple IDs. All that I am concerned about is that the devices are enrolled in the Meraki MDM so i could track and manage them, but there are apps that staff would need on their iPads which as you and others have stated, I could use VPP.

I had thought, since i wanted to have each device enrolled in Meraki MDM, i had to download the Meraki App from the App Store and so that was the reason for the multiple Apple IDs.

Thanks.

[vassallon]

All you need to do is set the Meraki App to auto-install to every device. 

I do wish that we could disable the ability to remove the Meraki App but I think that is an Apple issue not a Meraki issue.

Meraki App Install

Basically an App you want automatically installed you just check the Auto-install / auto-uninstall box. I learned the hard way that in a school district you only want to do this for a small number of Apps. We used to push everything via automatic push but once you have 4000+ iPads come on in a day no matter how many caching servers you have if you push out everything it brings your network to it's knees.

[mackp1967]

All we want to do is use Meraki MDM to manage our Apple devices install our apple profile. It worked flawlessly for three years and broke at the end of February.   

[vassallon]

@mackp1967 There has been quite a bit of changes made by both Apple and Meraki in three years. I suspect that the most likely change that would have affected you would be the change from DEP/VPP to Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager.

If I could get more information I might be able to assist with what is not working. Are you using the free or paid version of Meraki? Do you have ABM/ASM? What isn't working that used to work?

[mackp1967]

@vassallon

Thanks for responding.  We are using the free version of Maraki.  We are a small company with only about 40 laptops to manage.  We just went through the process of getting an ABM.   Any Help would greatly be appreciated. 

Paul...

[Jeff_Longley]

Can you define “broke”?

my 1st thought would be a certificate expiring somewhere, but without knowing what “broke” it’s hard to troubleshoot

[mmmmmmark]

Funny story about when we used to use shared apple ids between devices. My mom called my iphone and since I was on the company wifi, the call also rang to a co-workers iphone. She answered and had a lovely chat with my mom. We got rid of the shared apple ids quickly after that. Course managing 60 apple ids which were all just aliases of a single email address was a bit of a pain so VPP and DEP has really helped.