In this article you will learn about the Apple Device Enrollment Program (DEP) and how it’s supported in Applivery to streamline and automate Apple devices enrollment.
Apple Device Enrollment Program (also known as “DEP”) is a tool integrated in Apple Business Manager that allows organizations to fully automate the enrollment process of Apple Devices in MDM solutions like Applivery. In the beginning it was focused on new devices but starting with iOS 11, now it supports enrolling already purchased devices as well. DEP helps organizations enable supervision, MDM enrollment, skip setup steps beside many other features.
How to configure Apple Device Enrollment Program (DEP) in Applivery #
Applivery provides a seamless integration with Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) for purchasing apps and books licenses and install company-private apps to managed Apple devices running iOS and macOS.
In this article you will learn how to configure Apple Device Enrollment Program (DEP) in Applivery. There are some pre-requisites that you must have into consideration:
- You already own an Apple Business Manager approved account for your organization.
- You have an active Applivery Apple Device Management license.
If that’s the case, the next steps are:
- Configure a new MDM Server in Apple Business Manager (read the steps below)
- Create a DEP Profile
- Sync Applivery with Apple Business Manager
- Assign DEP profiles to new devices
- Initialize the device
Step 1 - Configure a new MDM server in Apple Business Manager #
Step 1.1 - Get your Public Key Certificate #
Sign-in to Applivery Dashboard and navigate to “Device Management > Configuration > Apple > DEP“. Then click button.
A file called Applivery DEP PublicKey (ORG NAME).cer will be downloaded.
Step 1.2 - Create a new MDM Server in Apple Business Manager #
- Sign-in to Apple Business Manager as a user that has the role of Administrator or Content Manager.
- Click your name at the bottom of the sidebar, click “Preferences” (1) , then click “MDM server” (2).
- At the top, click “Add MDM Server” (3).
Name the new MDM Server (1) and click “Choose File…” (2) under “MDM Server Settings”, then select and upload the .cer file you downloaded from Step 1. Then click “Save” (3).
The new MDM server will be created in Apple Business Manager and you will be redirected to the details screen. At the top, click “Download Token“. A .p7m file will be downloaded.
Now get back to the Applivery Dashboard and scroll down until step 5 of the setup process. Click button and upload the .p7m file you downloaded from ABM in the previous step. Then click .
Step 2 - Create a DEP Profile #
DEP profiles define how new devices will be enrolled in Applivery MDM and the initial configuration of those Apple devices. They allow you to configure setup screens, multi-user or supervision mode beside other features.
Let’s get started! From the Applivery Dashboard, navigate to “Device Management > Configuration > Apple > DEP“.
Next, click on DEP profiles.
A modal view will open, providing you with the following options:
- View all existing DEP profiles.
- Create a new DEP profile.
Optionally, you can also specify additional information for the profile such as the Department, support contact information, language, or region.
Last, you can select the setup steps you want to skip during device provisioning. By default all of them will be unselected so that the standard setup process is displayed. Once ready click button to finish.
The new DEP profile will be added to the list and will be ready to be assigned to new devices.
Step 3 - Sync with Apple Business Manager #
Now that your Applivery account and Apple Business Manager (ABM) account are connected, you can Sync them to retrieve all the new devices that have been added to ABM and configure them.
Just click button to start the syncing process and get the very last updates from Apple Business Manager. New devices will be added to the list below.
Note that button has been placed here to allow you to manually trigger a syncing process with ABM but this is a process that will be triggered automatically every hour on your behalf.
Step 4 - Assign DEP Profiles to new devices #
Now that new devices are properly synced with Applivery, you can start assigning DEP profiles to those devices so that they can finally get enrolled into Applivery. Follow these steps:
- Under the list of devices, just click . A side view will be opened.
- Use the dropdown menu to choose a DEP profile. The details will be displayed for your confirmation.
- Click the button.
Once assigned, the device will go through the following statuses:
- Assigned: the enrollment profile has been assigned to the device but not applied to the actual device yet.
- Pushed: the enrollment profile has been correctly applied to the device.
Step 5 - Initialize device #
Now that your devices has been associated with an Enrollment profile in Applivery, it’s time to start them up:
- Turn on your device for the first time. The device may ask a few initial setup questions.
- Select a WiFi network that has internet access since it is required to complete the Apple DEP check-in process.
- Next, the device will get the DEP profile configuration and will follow the settings you created.
- Once the setup process is completed, the device will appear under “Device Management > Devices” section in the Applivery dashboard.
Note that if the device was previously turned on and the setup process has been completed, you will need to factory reset the device. This is because the devices only check in with the Apple DEP service when they have not yet been set up.
To factory reset the device go to "Settings > General > Reset" and select "Erase all content and settings".
