DEP and iCloud backups

[rambro]

So I have a lot of users who have iPads and iPhones as we deploy new ones to them we are trying to enroll them in JAMF with DEP enrollment the problem is many of them have iCloud backups that I cant tell them they cant use. From what I read doing iCloud restore to a DEP enrolled phone will loose the supervision. So my questions is how are you all handling this issue?

[lunddal]

You don't lose supervision.

That's only if you take an iCloud backup on an unsupervised device, reset the device to get it supervised, and the restore from the backup on the same device again.

[rambro]

The problem I have is I need to deploy DEP devices to people who want all their data from an old unsupervised device. Logging back into iCloud will pull down pictures and I can probably convince people they need to install apps by hand but Is there anyway to get messages to the new phone?

[mark_buffington]

Hi @rambro

If you're restoring a backup from an old, unsupervised device to a new DEP-enrolled device, everything will work out well. Your users will get to restore their backups, and you'll have devices enrolled as supervised.

Apple has a good outline of backup/restore/DEP scenarios on this knowledge base article: About Device Enrollment.

If you restore from a backup while setting up an enrolled device This might affect supervision and device management. When you restore a backup that you made from the same device, it applies the supervision and management settings from the backup. If you restore a backup that you made from a different device, it applies the supervision and management settings that the Device Enrollment Program or Apple School Manager designates.

[guidotti]

@rambro so it sounds like you are giving the users entirely new devices. If that's the case, you should be ok. The Supervision will apply to the new devices and the users won't be able to remove it. They can restore their backup from their old, previously unsupervised device, and the new device will remain supervised. The only problem would be if you enrolled their old device in DEP and they then restored the old, unsupervised backup to that same device.

I hope that makes sense.

[KMerendaTFMC]

Hi All - I want to add my findings to this topic, hoping they can help someone.

I'm in the process of migrating supervised devices from AirWatch to Jamf. I took an iCloud backup of a supervised device in AirWatch, then reset it and changed DEP to point the device to Jamf. The setup assistant prompted me to restore from backup before the Remote Management/DEP prompt. I did the restore, and the device restored all settings then immediately went to the home screen after restart. It completely bypassed the remote management/DEP prompt and all other setup assistance screens. I checked Settings -->General and found that there were no profiles installed: none for AirWatch, and none for Jamf.

My uneducated guess of what happened is that the AirWatch profiles were captured in backup but could not be put back in place because DEP now assigned the device to Jamf. The Jamf profiles were not installed because applying a backup skips the setup assistant.

[jordi]

The only problem would be if you enrolled their old device in DEP and they then restored the old, unsupervised backup to that same device.

Exactely that, having the same problem.
Got the advice to enroll them manually (through link via email/sms), that worked, but although the device is supervised, it remaines unmanaged.