iPad Deployment - Restore the best option?

[Kevin]

Is Restore the best way to get an iPad configured exactly the way we want it before a user receives it.

200 iPads will be shipped to me. I am to unbox, barcode, enroll the iPads into management, re-box them and send them out to our store managers. THEY will set up the iPads with their Apple ID, but we are to have them enrolled before they leave here.

[mbuckner]

Yes. I'm assuming (from your earlier post) that you are using configurator? Create a backup of your master ipad and restore that backup to the client ipads. This will configure some (but not all) of your settings. It will put apps into folders (if the apps are already on the ipad), set your wallpaper, etc.

I'm managing 1800 ipads, and this is how I set them up:
1. Prepare the ipad in configurator
2. Install apps and wifi profiles
3. Restore the ipad with a backup I've already made (folders, wallpaper, etc)
4. Name the ipad (we name them according to who they belong to)
5. Check that wifi is active, then install the MDM profile and any restriction profiles. Don't push out restrictions through the MDM; users and delete the MDM profile and take the restrictions off.

[jcarr]

I respectfully disagree.

As long as you Supervise the iPads, you can install a WiFi profile, and trust and enrollment profiles with Configurator. I might even go so far as to set a time bomb on the WiFi profile. This allows you to preserve the out-of-box experience for the end user (they unbox and complete setup assistant with their AppleID), and yet allows you to manage settings with Configuration Profiles via MDM.

If you install apps (issue 2), users will need to return the iPad to you for updates. This is a less than ideal arrangement.

No matter what you do, users can (and likely will) customize the iPad to their own liking (issues 3 & 4). Customizing look and feel for consistency's sake is an outdated IT mentality. Let it go.

Yes, users can remove the enrollment profile (issue #5 above), but that is also true of a device managed only with Configurator. With physical access to the device, all bets are off. A user can use Recovery Mode to wipe an iPad supervised with Configurator. Craft your AUP in such a way that there are consequences for removing the enrollment profile. In school and the workplace there are often repercussions for misuse or abuse of equipment and/or privileges. Why should technology be any different? Don't use a technological solution for a non-technical problem.

Just my $0.02.

[Kevin]

I prefer NOT to restore from backup if possible, but I have not yet been able to enroll them in the JSS and pre-install apps unless I restore them.

I want my users to have the out of box experience of getting a new iPad, but don't want to have to worry about them enrolling them.

I agree also that I do not want to force these people to do things my way. They are adults (and managers) and should be treated as such. If they unmanaged or delete profiles, that will show up in the JSS and can be dealt with as an HR matter. Not my problem…

[krusej23]

Are you putting the apps on with configurator or with Casper? We are having issues where we have a master iPad with all of the apps installed from Casper and in folders. When I do the restore, it doesn't put all of the apps in folders. Any suggestions?