Remove "free iPad apps" out of the box and have them available in Self-Service

[kbreed27]

Hey JAMF People!

Our management is wanting to have iPads come out of the box with the Free (Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iMovie, GarageBand,) removed from the iPad and made available only in Self-service. Looking for some suggestions.

I'm pretty sure if we set-up a restriction for those apps, they would not be able to downloaded from Self-Service? They would just be forever restricted right? If they wipe the device using a JAMF reset or we wipe it with MDM reset it does not reinstall them, but it is adding an extra set to our "enrollment" work flow. These are kindergarten student iPads so it's been deemed too much to ask them to remove the apps themselves. 

I guess the TLDR is there a way to remove an iPad app once, but not restrict it so it can be downloaded later through Jamf Self-Service?  

Too bad you can't just "rm -rf" on an iPad right?

[mpineyro]

Depending on the apps you want to be present on the device. The “iWork” (Keynote, Pages, and Numbers) and “iLife” (iMovie and a GarageBand) suites will not be present if the device is restored. 

VPP licenses of these apps can be procured and made available. 

If you are targeting other native apps (e.g. Mail), a similar experience is possible. It still requires acquiring VPP licenses, but instead of a device restore a policy to uninstall the managed native app would be required. 

[mainelysteve]

I deal with this every year when I get new devices in based on our EOS/rotation plan.

My process is:

1. Acquire VPP licenses for all of the baked in apps if none exist or if I need more.
2. For the grade getting these fresh from the package iPads I add them to the scope of these apps and ensure it's set to automatic install. That way the baked in app gets converted over to a managed state.
3. Once the bulk of the devices are setup and deployed I pull those grades from the scope in the case of iWork for the younger grades and the Apple Store app for K through 12. Most are then changed to Self Service/Student based optional installs after that. I then systematically go through the extras that didn't get deployed and do a mass restore using Apple Configurator.

Not knowing how big your school is you could honestly just run them through Apple Configurator before you enroll them. Easy peasy.