Getting Pages, Numbers, Keynote etc working on iPads where they are pre-installed

[RobAtJigsaw]

These days Apple ship iPads with a number of apps pre-installed which used to be apps you had to install. Namely, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iMovie, Garageband and iTunes U. If you're not using Apple ID's on your iPads these pre-installed apps will refuse to boot, instead asking for the user's Apple ID.

These solution, I am told, is to get licences for those apps in VPP (they are all free apps now) and push the apps onto the iPad from Jamf Pro. The idea is that you check the boxes for "Make app managed when possible" and "Make app managed if currently installed as unmanaged" in the app deployment window in Jamf Pro.

Trouble is, on the 40 iPads I'm currently deploying, this is very intermittent. Most of the iPads are still asking for an Apple ID on all of those apps. A handful of iPads are asking for an Apple ID, but only on SOME of those apps. In frustration I removed Garageband from this iPad group and then when it had gone from the iPads, added the group back into scope. 5 hours later Garageband is still downloading so I don't want to do that again unless I really have to.

I tried sending update inventory commands, but does anyone know if there's a sure fire way to push this change of app management to all the iPads in this group at once?

[adamcodega]

It sounds like the install app command is not hitting the iPads. What do you see when you browse to an affected iPad in JSS, click the Management tab, and look under Management Commands? It will show pending and failed commands including commands to install the app(s).

[RobAtJigsaw]

hi adamcodega,

No pending commands, no failed commands. In the History it looks fine, all commands show as completed:
Certificate List Today at 08:57 Profile List Today at 08:57 Install Configuration Profile Online iPad Guide web clip Today at 08:57 Installed App List Today at 07:09 Managed App Configuration Today at 07:04 Profile List Today at 07:04 Install App - GarageBand 2.2.1 Today at 07:04 Installed App List Today at 07:00 Remove App - GarageBand 2.2.1 Today at 07:00 Update Inventory Today at 07:00 Installed App List Today at 06:49 Managed App Configuration Today at 06:46 Managed App Configuration Today at 06:46 Managed App Configuration Today at 06:46 Managed App Configuration Today at 06:46 Managed App Configuration Today at 06:46 Managed App Configuration Today at 06:46 Managed App Configuration Today at 06:46 Managed App Configuration Today at 06:46 Update Inventory Today at 06:46 Profile List Today at 06:46

[ktrojano]

We were experiencing the same issue and contacted our Apple SE. We do have VPP license in JAMF for these apps. According to Apple this is a known issue that they are working on a resolution for. In the meantime, they told us to delete the pre-installed apps from the iPads and re-install them from Self Service.

[dcolvillesyd]

Hi Rob,
I make it as part of my standard procedure to:

-Enable "Make app managed when possible" - Enable "Make app managed if currently installed as unmanaged"
then once all devices were enrolled - ensuring to push the "Force Update" button on the bundled iOS Apps.

This does go through the process of "reinstalling" but ensures that the license is in use.

This seems to be a reliable way to "update" the app such that it's correctly managed and distributes the license to it given it does go through the process of reinstalling the app. I did this across a fleet of 350 iPads in an hour or so with a Caching Server.

[rickhamilton620]

Thanks so much for this post, I've been scratching my head on this for a while now.

I'll post back when I give it a shot at the end of the day today.

[rickhamilton620]

I gave it (marking a app managed when possible and making the app managed if installed as unmanaged) a shot yesterday. Came in today and the app still wouldn't launch until I uninstalled and reinstalled the app.

I'll do this if I have to but definitely not ideal.