Is there a way to geo-locate an iOS device in Casper?

[St0rMl0rD]

So, Cisco's Meraki has a great feature which we find lacking in Casper. It is basically the possibility to locate specific devices on a map, in case they get stolen or lost. Since we have had some cases of that already, we would love to see if this feature is possible. Is anyone else that feels the same way?

[lunddal]

ZENworks Mobile Management can do the same, but it requires that you install an app that has access to location services and uses the GPS from time to time.

[St0rMl0rD]

Well, we aren't looking at other MDMs, since iOS devices can only be enrolled into one MDM at a time.

[stoneacheck]

Pretty sure someone asked something similar during the iOS 7 webcast and the engineer/rep from JAMF said something along the lines of that they didn't want to track the users like that. It's not technically impossible obviously if another vendor can do it, JAMF just chooses not to offer it.

[Chris_Hafner]

Nope... but there is always 'prey'

[lunddal]

My point was that ZMM requires an app, which Casper doesn't.

I don't know if that's the case with Meraki.

[cdenesha]

Prey is expensive.

I think AirWatch does it with an app they install from their self service that has access to location.

I'm somewhat interested in the capability because these are school iPads. But I also like being able to say "no I have no way of tracking your child".

I know the issue is going to come up and there will be some stolen or 'lost'. Our insurance policy has a $50 deductible with a police report, so we've emphasized that with the parents.

chris

[haircut]

No, it's not possible to produce a Meraki-like map of precise device locations using the Casper Suite.

Meraki is first and foremost a network management solution; their MDM features are part of the package but not the focus. Their secret sauce for the location works only on your network by gathering location data from whichever APs the device is talking to. You have to use their hardware. Such triangulation is the only way to gather a location without the use of an installed, always-on GPS app. Once the device leaves your site, you won't get a location.

AirWatch's MDM "agent" app, however, is GPS-aware app that provides constant location data (and battery drain).

Your only bet with Casper is to do a geo-ip lookup on the IP address of the device; it's imprecise but gives you something.

[TomK]

Hi,

One way to do it without an app, would be to use an iCloud account that only the admin would administer and use the "find my iPhone" or "find my friends" built-in app for these iCloud accounts ?

Tom.

[St0rMl0rD]

Tom,

Every student uses their own Apple ID with iCloud. However, not all of them have Find my iPad turned on…

Thanks for all the answers!

[bbelew]

Dead thread I know but I had a thought..

Would it be possible to create an in-house app that wraps safari and goes to a web page that requests location? If so the page could snag the gps coords and email it to you. You could force the page open by turning on single app mode. Would just have to hope the person clicks allow when it asks for location.

[Chris_Hafner]

I do believe it would, enough so that we've actually planned on doing that ourselves... it's just that it's worked it's way down the priority list ;-)

[Chris_Hafner]

BTW the app would have to be running. FYI. So far as I know you can't run any of that completely in the background!

[bentoms]

Yep iOS doesn't allow for "full back grounding" neither does it allow for just back grounding @ reading the GPS location.

Also, location changes are made when moving 100m's or so. So might not be that accurate with all the above taken into account.

This is all to do with privacy & battery life, FWIW on android it all works much better. (By all I mean the location tracking).

[kevin_neill]

(CSE Badge Posted: 11/24/13 at 1:13 AM by bmwarren

No, it's not possible to produce a Meraki-like map of precise device locations using the Casper Suite.

Meraki is first and foremost a network management solution; their MDM features are part of the package but not the focus. Their secret sauce for the location works only on your network by gathering location data from whichever APs the device is talking to. You have to use their hardware. Such triangulation is the only way to gather a location without the use of an installed, always-on GPS app. Once the device leaves your site, you won't get a location.

AirWatch's MDM "agent" app, however, is GPS-aware app that provides constant location data (and battery drain).

Your only bet with Casper is to do a geo-ip lookup on the IP address of the device; it's imprecise but gives you something.)

I know this post is older, but I wanted to make something clear. We use both Meraki (iPads and Microsoft Devices) and Jamf (Mac, Macbook Air). You can track out of "network" devices. They have a GEO Fencing policy you can set for your devices, if they roam outside of the set parameters, you can be alerted. You can also be alerted if they come back in to the set parameters. The use of this does require an app to be installed on the iPad though, along with the MDM.

[Emmert]

Casper supports MDM lost mode, so you can sort of accomplish this now. It's just not constantly enabled.