Mass updates for iOS

[mmcallister]

Has anyone had any experience trying this?

Initial tests on one iPad (from iOS 9.2), then a group of five iPads (from iOS 9.0.2) were promising. All devices updated with no user interaction. The update generally happened within 1 hour of sending the command.

I attempted to update a group of 67 iPads last night from 9.1 to 9.2.1. The devices all had more than 2GB free space, are Supervised, and were enrolled via DEP. Battery status on all devices was > 50%. None of the devices had a passcode. This morning I sent an "Update Inventory" command to all of the devices. 11 of 67 had successfully updated. A check of the management history showed that each device had a "ScheduleOSUpdate" command marked as Complete.

Any suggestions or tips welcomed.

[mmcallister]

Followup: iOS 9.1 doesn't seem to be the problem - attempted OS update on 21 iPads from 9.2 to 9.2.1. 2 of 21 were successful.

[TDew]

I have had the same experience where I deploy to a group (a cart of 20 or so) and only have success with a small percentage. When I work with single iPads to test the process I am consistently successful when the update has NOT previously downloaded and I am consistently unsuccessful when the update has already downloaded. I plan to expand this test, but wanted to mention this to see if anyone else is seeing the same thing.

[mradams]

I opened a Service Ticket with JAMF and was told by my TAM the Engineers are looking into this. I have a few thousand devices now that the latest update was downloaded but did not force install. We are now going one by one to complete the update.

[tcam]

Some things i've noticed. iOS doesn't like to install unless the device is plugged into power. (Or has 50%+ battery) That's 50% battery AFTER downloading the iOS update.

After updating is can take a while for the updates to show in the JSS. doing a bulk update inventory can help.

Wireless Access points can be a choke point. telling 30 to update at once in a classroom... Is like trying to squeeze the update through 1Mbps per device. It takes longer, and the chances of the download failing increase. It does not help that allof of the ipad carts out there reduce wifi signal.

commands stuck in pending can block the command to update iOS.

[mtward]

In my experience so far updating from any version of 9.2.1 backwards is flaky. Once on iOS 9.3 going to iOS9.3.1 and JSS 9.9 has worked great. Also has to be plugged in or at 50% charge.

[mmcallister]

Thanks to @cgalik for this info:

If a user has already pressed "remind me later," the device ignores subsequent MDM requests to schedule OS update. The user is not presented with any dialog, and the update is not performed.

https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=18530

[jgwatson]

I only have 250 (ish) to update, but I find I have to create a smart group of those that didn't update, and I just keep hitting update. As-in: first round maybe 100 will get it.....then I'll wait a few days, second round whne I try again 80....and I just repeat that.