Shared iPad autolock time

[RyanSK]

Does anyone know of a way to make the Autolock time longer than default on a shared iPad deployment?

Students are complaining that it locks the device too quickly when they are referencing it as a textbook.

[belldesean]

[bfrench · Accepted solution]

If the iPads are set as true Shared iPads you can not change when they lock but you can change the Lock Grace Period in Remote Commands.

[Cubbie36]

Would someone clarify!!!  Are you saying "Auto-Lock" (which is when the screen goes black) is NOT controllable on a Shared iPad using User Session?  We are trying to use Shared iPads for photoshoots with the iPad displaying the camera image. On Battery, it seems they go off after 2mins. But we want the screens to stay on while on battery. It looks like this is not a setting that can be controlled directly on the iPad. But is there any other way of setting this? 

[dtmille2]

@Cubbie36, as far as I know there is no way to adjust the default 2 min screen lock setting on a Shared iPad in a guest user session.

I've never tested this on a Shared iPad with someone logged into the iPad with a managed Apple ID. Perhaps that would offer more personalization, but it would defeat the purpose of using a Shared iPad in our environment so never bothered to test.

[sgonschorek]

After some testing I´ve got it working with the mdm command "Update passcode lock grace period" within the group actions. This is working for me with Jamf Pro. I´ve notice that most of the unified endpoint manager are missing that command.

[dtmille2]

@sgonschorek that's interesting. I still can't get that to work on my Shared iPads. Could you please share some more info to help those of us that are still struggling to get this to work.

A few questions that I have:

-What time in the "Update passcode lock grace period" have you successfully tested?

-To confirm, your test caused the iPad screen to stay on without going to sleep (going dark) in accordance with the time selected in the command you sent?

-Are the Shared iPads in Temporary User Only mode?

-What iPadOS version are they running?

As an aside, I was/am starting to think that the purpose of this command has nothing to do in regards to when the display on a Shared iPad goes dark (what the original post was about), but is just meant to adjust how long AFTER the screen goes dark (after 2 minutes idle), until the user is required to enter their passcode (irrelevant in a guest user session).

[m_green]

@bfrench

Wow, I can't tell you how many times I've looked right at this and it never dawned on me that the solution to our problem was right there. Thanks for sharing your screenshot. I interpreted the usage differently and thus never used it.

[kcc]

This isn't even working for me. I set it to 5 minutes and the devices still lock themselves after 2 minutes and then I need to enter the password again. How is this such a hard setting for Apple to get right? We have a bunch of primary school students that want the Shared iPad next to them while they paint/draw from something displayed on screen.

[sdrake]

This feature does not work. After choosing a new grace period, the page spins/loads for several minutes and never makes any change.

[Rattomlin]

This does not work and there is a feature request to make it happen.

[gmorgan]

Just to bring this more current, I recently tried this. Remote commands still didn't seem to work so I tried a config profile with the passcode payload. All seems to be going according to plan (the config profile even shows up in the device's scope under management) until I received this error: 'The payload type “com.apple.mobiledevice.passwordpolicy” is not permitted in multi-user mode'. So.....still a no go.

[Rattomlin]

This worked for me as it was implemented with Jamf 10.11 I believe.

[user-NmrcfQRdqE]

Does anyone know if this has been solved yet? I have a heap of shared iPads and I'm still unable to change to Auto-Lock time. It defaults to 2 mins and the setting is not shown in the iPad's Settings to change it.

[dtmille2]

According this Apple article, the auto lock time should be able to be extended up to 5 minutes. However, I am not able to get this command to work either. Anyone able to change the default screen lock time for Shared iPads in their environment, or is this feature still not working?

https://support.apple.com/guide/mdm/passcode-payload-settings-mdm4d6a472a/1/web/1.0

[dtmille2]

Update to this: I opened a support ticket with Jamf and after working with a couple of support personnel I was told that they are reopening a Product Issue for this behavior. I understand that they thought this behavior was resolved with a PI that was opened, but it appears that it is not.

Interestingly, and Apple engineer I spoke with seemed to think that a command to alter screen lock time on an Shared iPad should not work at all based upon the support documentation he was seeing. I wondered out loud how this command would have gotten into Jamf Pro in the first place if it had not been supported by Apple?

Citrix end point management for iPad also offers the command:

https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-endpoint-management/policies/passcode-lock-grace-period.html

[OPete]

Are there any new updates regarding this case (now in 2023!) ?

It is really annoying for our school kids, that the display shuts off every 2 minutes :-(

(BTW, we are working with Jamf School)

KR Olaf

[dtmille2]

Have you contacted Jamf Support about the issue? I did in 10/2021 and provided an update to this thread. It is now your turn. 😀

[djrory]

Good news, you can do this via remote commands. 

[djrory]

[dtmille2]

User session timeout is not the same as the "Update Password Lock Grace Period" command which is what this thread is about. The "User Session Timeout" command is for logging a user out of a Shared iPad session. This thread is about extending how long it takes for the screen to lock in Shared iPad sessions.

[dtmille2]

As an update, I just tested this again on a Shared iPad, sending a command to adjust the "Update Password Lock Grace Period" to 5 minutes. It had no effect and the iPad Lock Screen was enabled after 2 minutes. So the issue is not resolved.

[sgonschorek]

I actually had the same isseu in a business enviroment, where the shared iPads looks during customer consultations. As the MDM payload doesn´t support the configuration of the Auto lock or i didn´t found it, what does the mdm command does on a shared iPad?

"Interestingly, and Apple engineer I spoke with seemed to think that a command to alter screen lock time on an Shared iPad should not work at all based upon the support documentation he was seeing." This makes total sense, if the mdm payload doesn´t support that from my oppinion.

Would be nice to get this implemented before iOS 20.

best

Stephan