Apple Classroom and iOS ver. 16

[shafferc]

Ever since updating our student iPads to iOS ver. 16 or later their iPads no longer "Automatically join Classroom classes without prompting" as configured in Jamf Pro under configuration profiles > restrictions > functionality. Instead of joining classroom classes automatically student iPads now show as offline in the Apple Classroom app until the teacher selects a student and clicks connect, at which time student iPads receive a notification to join the class and students have an option of either accepting or declining the invitation. Obviously this is a huge issue because students can decline the invitation and not join the class. 

I find it a little strange that a Jamf Pro configuration profile stopped working after an iOS update but it doesn't surprise me at all since Apple is notorious for releasing updates before giving developers time to update things on their end.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[shafferc]

Ok, I just tested on an iPad using iOS ver. 14.7 and the same behavior occurs. However, ver. 15 of iOS had the configuration profile working and student iPads would automatically join Classroom classes and appear "online" without any input from the teacher. Maybe this functionality just stopped working in Jamf Pro? I'll probably end up having to open a support case with them but am wondering if anyone has experienced similar behavior? 

[hakimig]

The update does affect the EDU profile. it was working fine until our iPads updated to iOS 16.

[Chris_Cover]

Did this issue ever get resolved for you?

[hakimig]

No I am still un-assigning and then re-assigning devices daily. The fix is to federate supposedly so it takes Jamf ( edu Profile) out of the equation , but we have not federated as of yet. I will keep you posted.

[Chris_Cover]

OK. 

I can tell you now that federated IDs will not solve your problem all of our users have federated Managed IDs and we still have classes with "offline" devices.

What IOS version is on your devices?
We noticed that if the affected devices are attached to a hotspot that the issue disappears. Have you seen the same thing?

[hakimig]

Thats very bad news! Apple is insisting that federating cuts out Jamf as the middle man for Apple classroom. We have 9500 iPads in our district and its strange most are on 15.7- 16.3 but only the iPads on 16 or higher are the ones that lost the EDU profile from Jamf even though the edu profile is still on the device in Jamf?. I honestly think this is a Jamf issue but then again I can be totally off but like i said earlier i'm having to unassign and reassign like everyday all day. It's ridiculous.

[Chris_Cover]

We may have a different understanding of "Federation". Federation as I understand it only applies to the Apple ID's.

If your device has a EDU profile then that means you have JAMF classes where you are assigning students and teachers *in JAMF*. If you are doing so then the JAMF classes take precedence and ASM derived classes are removed from the device.

I take it you are not using managed Apple ID's for your users/devices which is why your using Jamf Class.

 Our EDU profiles, when used, are always present on the device. They will ONLY disappear if the student is no longer associated with the device. If that is happening then you should be looking at your DB and make sure your users are properly associated with their device (assuming you are not using Shared iPads).

[hakimig]

Thank you for that, and yes we do not use Apple ID's yet ... We are going to federate with google soon. My question is once we do this will Apple Classroom have the same "offline:" issues as we are having now without using Apple ID's. My understanding is that User assigned devices rely on classes and therefore distributes the EDU profile for Apple Classroom. But Apple says if you federate and use Apple ID's the Offline apple classroom issue goes away as you cut out Jamf from the middle? 

[Chris_Cover]

Hi.

You should update to IOS 16.4. It has changes that apparently addresses the issues.

[efisher]

Jumping in to add that I'm also experiencing the same issue as OP. Despite having all Restrictions in Jamf set correctly, devices are requiring manual connection daily, sometimes multiple times a day, and students can easily decline. "Allow Classroom to lock device without prompting" is set as well, though I'm unable to lock students' devices and have a grayed-out lock option instead. We're using Managed Apple IDs and I've configured the classrooms in Apple School Manager. Trying another wifi network and a hotpsot produced the same results--that is, the connect request still appears as a prompt on-screen. Hoping this gets worked out soon as it severely limits the functionality of Apple Classroom.