Hello, I’d like to clarify the technical limitations around app updates in an Apple School Manager (ASM) + MDM environment. Environment • iOS/iPadOS devices supervised and managed via Apple School Manager • Apps are distributed via ASM (VPP / Custom App) and managed by MDM • Apps are App Store–signed (not Enterprise/In-House) • Some apps include NetworkExtension (VPN) functionality • Automatic app updates are enabled in MDM Question From a technical and platform-design perspective, is it possible to: Deploy app updates for ASM/MDM-distributed App Store apps via a separate/custom update server, and trigger updates simultaneously across all managed devices, bypassing or supplementing the App Store update mechanism? In other words: • Can an organization operate its own update server to push a new app version to all devices at once? • Or is App Store + iOS always the sole execution path for installing updated app binaries? ⸻ My current understanding (please correct if wrong) Based on Apple documentation, it seems that: 1. App Store–distributed apps cannot self-update • Apps cannot download and install new binaries or replace themselves. • All executable code must be Apple-signed and installed by the system. 2. MDM can manage distribution and enable auto-update, but: • MDM cannot reliably trigger an immediate update for App Store apps. • Actual download/install timing is decided by iOS (device locked, charging, Wi-Fi, etc.). 3. Custom update servers • May be used for policy decisions (minimum allowed version, feature blocking), • But cannot be used to distribute or install updated app binaries on iOS. 4. For ASM-managed devices: • The only supported update execution path is: App Store → iOS → Managed App Update • Any “forced update” behavior must be implemented at the app logic level, not the installation level. ⸻ What I’m trying to confirm • Is there any supported MDM command, API, or mechanism that allows: • Centralized, immediate, one-shot updates of App Store apps across all ASM-managed devices? • Or is the above limitation fundamental by design, meaning: • Organizations must rely on iOS’s periodic auto-update behavior • And enforce version compliance only via app-side logic? ⸻ Why this matters In large school deployments, delayed updates (due to device conditions or OS scheduling) can cause: • Version fragmentation • Inconsistent behavior across classrooms • Operational issues for VPN / security-related apps Understanding whether this limitation is absolute or if there is a recommended Apple-supported workaround would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance for any clarification

Hi, I might be a bit late to the party, but Apple has added several SkipKeys such as: TapToSetup and SafetyAndHandling. I want to make sure that the keys is working properly, so I want to do the before-after comparison, however I just can't seem to show pages related to those keys. Just for information, I'm based in Japan and I've been using iPhone pro 16 and M2 iPad Pro for the testing. I believe that TapToSetup is apple tv-related, so I've tried various things such as having it in a same network or using the same apple account both in Apple TV and the iPhone/iPad but I can't get it to show. Any ideas?

I am trying to correctly manage about 20 Mac, iPhones and PC inside a Wi-Fi network built through System Settings > Sharing > Internet Sharing To achieve this task I defined a complete configuration file: /etc/bootpd.plist which is used by /usr/libexec/InternetSharing. But every time /usr/libexec/InternetSharing is starting the file /etc/bootpd.plist is overwritten by another file and my configuration is thus fully lost. How to set a correct /etc/bootps.plist file and avoid its total overwrite by /usr/libexec/InternetSharing? Is it necessary to write this bootpd.plist in some other directory for /usr/libexec/InternetSharing to load it without destroying it? I got the same configuration total erase on macOS Big Sur and Sequoia.

Hello, I am trying to authenticate to the Apple Business Manager API to retrieve device information and ingest it into ServiceNow. I am following the documentation here. The first step is to create an API account and download the private key used to create a JWT client assertion. The guide linked above gives a python script to create a client assertion. Below the first python script, the following description is given for the "kid" variable: "The value is your keyId that returns when you upload a public key." This is the first time that a public key, rather than a private key, is referenced. Where is the public key supposed to be uploaded? Later in the guide, a public key is referenced again, in the section describing the client_id Request parameter: "(Required) You receive your clientId when you upload a public key." I have tried to create a client assertion using the keyId that is associated with the API account. When I try to request an access token, however, I also get an "invalid_client" error back. I am wondering if I'm using the wrong values for both key_id and client_id due to not creating and uploading a public key. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Hi, I’m testing the ClearPasscode MDM command: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/clear-passcode-command Question: If a user enters the passcode incorrectly multiple times and the device becomes temporarily locked (e.g., “Try again in X minutes”) or reaches “Security Lockout”, can ClearPasscode still be executed successfully while the device is in that state? {'ErrorCode': 5013, 35708 'ErrorDomain': 'MCPasscodeErrorDomain', 35709 'LocalizedDescription': '\xe3\x81\x93...x89', 35710 'USEnglishDescription': 'The passcode cannot be cleared (-1)'} If it depends on conditions (e.g., supervised vs. user enrollment, availability of UnlockToken, network/check-in state), could you clarify which conditions are required? Thank you.

We are upgrading macOS (minor versions and potentially major versions) using a scripted approach: Install the InstallAssistant package via installer Trigger OS install via startosinstall On MDM-managed assets, OS update policies appear to prohibit or interfere with the update flow. The update often fails with startosinstall reporting “Helper tool crashed…” during the “Preparing” phase. Steps to Reproduce On an MDM-enrolled Mac with OS update restriction/deferral policies applied, run: sudo /usr/sbin/installer -pkg /Path/To/InstallAssistant.pkg -target / && echo 'MACOS_PASSWORD' | /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sonoma.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --agreetolicense --forcequitapps --stdinpass --user MACOS_USER Actual Result Package installation reports success, but startosinstall fails during preparation with: Standard Output installer: Package name is macOS15.7_SoftwareUpdate installer: Upgrading at base path / installer: The upgrade was successful. By using the agreetolicense option, you are agreeing that you have run this tool with the license only option and have read and agreed to the terms. If you do not agree, press CTRL-C and cancel this process immediately. Preparing to run macOS Installer... Preparing: 0.0% Preparing: 0.1% ... Preparing: 24.9% Standard Error Helper tool crashed... notes.log Install.log is also attached. Questions for Apple / Ask: We suspect this crash is caused by MDM OS update restrictions/policies. We need Apple’s recommended method to perform macOS updates (minor + major) when MDM is present, especially in environments where update deferrals/restrictions may be configured.

Background / Objective We are currently developing a solution to centrally manage Apple OS updates (major and minor) across managed macOS devices. Before implementing at scale, we need Apple’s guidance on supported and future-proof update mechanisms under MDM. Questions / Ask (Apple Guidance Requested) Apple recommended method What is Apple’s recommended approach to perform: Minor updates (e.g., macOS X.Y → X.Z) Major upgrades (e.g., Ventura → Sonoma) in an enterprise fleet? Support boundary Is macOS update management only supported via MDM (including any newer declarative workflows), or are local mechanisms (installer + command-line tooling) also considered supported for enterprise automation? Use of startosinstall Can we leverage the existing utility: /Applications/Install macOS .app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall for automated upgrades in enterprise environments? If yes, are there recommended flags/workflows Apple endorses for unattended or minimally interactive upgrades? Long-term support / stability Does startosinstall have any form of long-term support / stability guarantees across future macOS releases? Are there any known deprecations planned (or guidance that customers should transition to MDM/DDM workflows)? MDM interaction / interference When using startosinstall, can MDM policies (software update deferrals/restrictions, update enforcement, etc.) interfere with or block the upgrade? If interference is expected, what is the correct supported way to coordinate: MDM software update settings local startosinstall execution to avoid failures and ensure compliance? What We Need From Apple (Desired Outcome) A clear statement of recommended and supported update workflow(s) for enterprise managed macOS: for minor updates for major upgrades Guidance on whether startosinstall is acceptable for long-term automation, or whether we should only use MDM/DDM-driven workflows. Any best practices or reference documentation Apple recommends for implementing this safely and reliably.

I've been running the betas fine for a while, now, where do you want to go??

My institution uses Blackboard and iPads to conduct assessments, and I’m trying to find some proctoring tools. Students conduct the assessments directly on Blackboard using either Safari or Chrome. I know that Apple has a function that does EXACTLY what I’m looking for, but from what I understand, this function has to be made available by Safari or Chrome: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/automaticassessmentconfiguration I don’t know whether either of these two browsers have this function enabled, and whether it can be switched on and off for custom-made Blackboard assessments. Is this a possibility? Are there other options? I know Blackboard offers built-in and third-party proctoring, but contacting them is difficult, and my company does not give me the appropriate authority to speak directly with Blackboard. So, I’m not able to find out about the feasibility, costs, etc. of this option. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a simple organization-info declaration that contains the following: "Identifier": "com.example.declaration.org-info", "Payload": { "Email": "info@example.com", "Name": "Example Organization Info", "URL": "http://example.com" }, "ServerToken": "c23b40ca47b11420", "Type": "com.apple.management.organization-info" } And an activation that includes the org-info declaration: "Identifier": "com.example.activation.org-info", "Payload": { "StandardConfigurations": [ "com.example.declaration.org-info" ] }, "ServerToken": "5f6c37a6a0c44e35", "Type": "com.apple.activation.simple" } When I check the status of the declaration, I see the following error: "StatusItems": { "management": { "declarations": { "activations": [ { "reasons": [ { "details": { "Identifier": "com.example.activation.org-info", "ServerToken": "5f6c37a6a0c44e35", "ConfigurationIdentifiers": "com.example.declaration.org-info" }, "description": "Activation (com.example.activation.org-info:5f6c37a6a0c44e35) is missing configurations.", "code": "Error.MissingConfigurations" } ], "active": false, "identifier": "com.example.activation.org-info", "valid": "valid", "server-token": "5f6c37a6a0c44e35" } ], "configurations": [], "assets": [], "management": [ { "active": false, "identifier": "com.example.declaration.org-info", "valid": "valid", "server-token": "542fded47e432de3" } ] } } }, "Errors": [] } I'm not seeing the error in either the activation or the declaration that might throw this error. Does anyone have any insight?

I'm looking at the Apple official document below and getting the app's information. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/getting-app-and-book-information-legacy However, I couldn't get the custom app's information for a few days ago. The result item is empty. This is a URL that is normally viewed. https://uclient-api.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStorePlatform.woa/wa/lookup?version=2&p=mdm-lockup&caller=MDM&platform=volumestore&cc=jp&id=1202716089 This is the URL that gives an empty response to the result. https://uclient-api.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStorePlatform.woa/wa/lookup?version=2&p=mdm-lockup&caller=MDM&platform=volumestore&cc=jp&id=1556411142 In ABM/ASM, the number of applications used and the number of available applications are all viewed normally. Is there anything else I can check? Please reply. Thank you.

I found that "search" endpoint is recently added to api.ent.apple.com : https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/get-catalog-search-results However it seems we cannot find custom apps using this API even with sToken. Is it not suppoted yet? Thank you

I want to side load a .ipa file from a Mac to iPhone connected to Mac via USB. I don't want to use ABM or enterprise account. Also these can be any number of unknown devices. Is there any way to set this up automatically?

Is there any mechanism to restrict camera usage on a user-owned device, once they have opted in, consented to the restriction, and installed a management profile? Documentation suggests it was possible with allowCamera, but has be deprecated on unsupervised devices. Am I understanding correctly that it's simply not possible anymore unless the device is supervised?

I'm working on the companion iOS app for my purpose-built MDM system. when I use the following in a .swift file: import DeviceManagement I get the build issue: No such module 'DeviceManagement' When I attempt to add the framework in the Frameworks, Libraries, and Embedded Content settings, DeviceManagement doesn't even show up in the available frameworks. Alll the documentation I can find suggests that is the correct framework to import, but I'm new to this and not sure if I'm just missing something. Some AI help is suggesting that the culprit might be v16.x of Xcode, but I don't know enough to prove that correct or not. Any ideas on why Xcode believes there is no such module? Is there documentation that might help me learn how to make that framework available for my project?

We are going to replace our iPhone SE to iPhone 16e. The issue is that we are unable to install an in-house app on the new iPhone 16e. The app works on the iPhone SE Both phones run on the same iOS version (18.5) Has anyone else experienced the same issue? I initially thought the iPhone 16e was the successor to the iPhone SE

Three months ago I molded a mold program. I believe could be tweaked and tried unlined zero code. swear. anyway I would like to scale with some people if I can go to commercial area code phoned series and calls.and if I have rights. but my next moves for them. on iOS I think they should have a seri settings. where they can call seri.on settings, and it jump many codes-and navigation is hard. plus I think seri can help in settings expecially since seri settings is verbal drop. if the words fit or are similar it cues goes to but you have to hard call the switch.so there’s no hey no Sami where you setting no Sammy right I think it could skip cauldron and everything verbally either. Seri settings I think iOS should try it.

Hi Apple Team & Community, The new Introduction of Platform SSO during ADE Enrollment is Great And we tried implementing this. As a Rule mentioned in the Documentation Initially MDM Server should send 403 response with Response Body adhering to ErrorCodePlatformSSORequired when HTTP Header for MachineInfo request contains MDM_CAN_REQUEST_PSSO_CONFIG and set to true There are contradictory claims mentioned in Document, In Process Platform SSO Required Response it is mentioned that MDM Server should send body as JSON Object for ErrorCodePlatformSSORequired Example below >>>>> Response HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden Content-Type: application/json Content-Length: 558 { "code": "com.apple.psso.required", "description": "MDM Server requires the user to authenticate with Identity Provider - BY MEMDM", "message": "The MDM server requires you to authenticate with your Identity Provider. Please follow the instructions provided by your organization to complete the authentication process - BY MEMDM", "details": { "Package": { "ManifestURL": "https://platform-sso-node-server.vercel.app:443/manifest" }, "ProfileURL": "https://platform-sso-node-server.vercel.app:443/profile", "AuthURL": "https://platform-sso-node-server.vercel.app:443/auth" } } But in the same Document a Sample HTTP Response was Provided but seems to be XML format as below >>>>> Response HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden Content-Type: application/xml Content-Length: 601 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Code</key> <string>com.apple.psso.required</string> <key>Details</key> <dict> <key>ProfileURL</key> <string>https://mdmserver.example.com/psso.mobileconfig</string> <key>Package</key> <dict> <key>ManifestURL</key> <string>https://mdmserver.example.com/psso-app.plist</string> </dict> <key>AuthURL</key> <string>https://idp.example.com/authenticate</string> </dict> </dict> </plist> From Github I assume that both Response Types are welcomed hence I tried with Both Followed in JSON Mode, I redirected the HTTP request if MachineInfo contains MDM_CAN_REQUEST_PSSO_CONFIG and set to true to https://platform-sso-node-server.vercel.app/redirectedDEPJSON Followed in XML Mode, I redirected the HTTP request if MachineInfo contains MDM_CAN_REQUEST_PSSO_CONFIG and set to true to https://platform-sso-node-server.vercel.app/redirectedDEPXML In both Response Modes OS is not proceeding after and a error Stating Enrollment with Management Server Failed , Forbidden request (403) appears Can someone kindly guide on where I missed, or is this any OS Bug in Tahoe 26?

I'm currently implementing a managed app using the new AppConfig specification. I referred to Apple's official documentation: Specifying and decoding a configuration. Based on the example provided in the "Publish your configuration specification" section, I structured my application configuration plist like this: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>configuration</key> <dict> <key>account</key> <dict> <key>username</key> <string>test user</string> <key>password</key> <string>test 123</string> </dict> <key>domain</key> <string>test example.com</string> </dict> </dict> </plist> When I deployed this configuration via my MDM server, the server reported valid for the activation, configuration and asset (which is the plist), but the configuration did not reflect or apply within my app. My app was unable to retrieve these settings. After some troubleshooting, I found that removing the top-level <key>configuration</key> wrapper resolved the issue. The following plist structure successfully pushed the configuration to my app: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>account</key> <dict> <key>username</key> <string>test user</string> <key>password</key> <string>test 123</string> </dict> <key>domain</key> <string>test example.com</string> </dict> </plist> My question is: Is the inclusion of the <key>configuration</key> wrapper (as shown in the Apple documentation example) incorrect for the current AppConfig implementation? Or is this structure intended for a future release (e.g., iOS 26 or beyond) and the documentation implicitly refers to it, causing confusion for current implementation? Any clarification would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hi everyone, I’m working as an IT engineer in the cruise industry and need to troubleshoot passenger complaints about Apple’s new RCS messaging feature (introduced with iOS 18). Could someone help confirm which domains and ports iPhones use when they send RCS messages? For the fortigate and palo alto firewalls I need specifics: domains (or subdomains) that need whitelisting and the ports involved. Any official or community-sourced info would be super helpful—thanks in advance!