iOS Upgrades

[mykool]

What is everyone's strategy to upgrade their iOS devices? This has been a little more difficult than macOS upgrades in the past. We are coming up with a game plan for iPadOS 15 and wanted to see how everyone else did theirs. 

[dcgagne]

We're in the healthcare space where if you have an iPad (and rarely an iPhone) we are fairly aggressive with regards to upgrades.

1. After a new release, it goes through a testing phase (several days)
2. Two MDM commands are sent to all eligible devices, the first is a Self Service message encouraging the user to download and install the upgrade along with a timeline of when it will be forced, and the second is a command to download the version we want them to upgrade to
3. Unless it is a critical update, the users have ~2 weeks to upgrade. If they do not by that time, two more MDM commands are sent: The first is to clear their passcode and the second is to download, install, and restart the device

The major drawback of this is it can be disruptive to users if they do not update themselves. The forced installation and restart is the obvious one, but the passcode clearing also forces them to set a new passcode that adheres to our password reuse policy. 

[nsbickhart]

We can’t do this because our iso would likely never approve the reset passcode.  I was just in a webinar and it sounds like Jamf is going to allow you to push major upgrades with deferrals right from Jamf.  Not sure when this is coming, but it sounds like it will solve all of our problems.

[miguelfc]

We are using the max days for deferral of the update since we need to clear all the Apps installed in iPad. Our main concern is when iPads need to have a hard reset and the iOS version installed is more recent then the one tested. Is there anyway to downgrade the version on the iPad?