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Supervision in Jamf School

Updated over 3 weeks ago

Description

Supervision provides a higher level of device management for institutionally owned devices. Without supervision, fewer restrictions can be enforced on the device and Quick Action commands are limited.

For the most up to date information regarding supervision, please see the Apple Deployment Guide.

How to find supervision status in Jamf School?

  • Individually: To check a device's supervision status in Jamf School, look at the upper-left corner of the Device Details page of the inventory record. If the device is supervised there will be a box noting this whereas unsupervised devices will display nothing.
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    image shows the inventory record of a supervised iPad to point out where it shows that its supervised. vs Image shows the inventory record of a non-supervised iPad to show that the supervision status is blank.
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  • En masse: Add the Supervised column to the Device > Inventory page display by clicking Table Settings and checking the box for Supervised.

    This image shows the Supervision column that can be added to the Inventory Overview page in Jamf School which allows you to see supervision status for multiple devices at a glance.


How to supervise devices?

  • macOS devices on macOS 11 or later enrolled will automatically be supervised (regardless of how they were enrolled).

  • iOS devices will be supervised automatically if enrolled via Automated Device Enrollment or they can be supervised using Apple Configurator and enrolled with on-device enrollment.

Supervising Devices with Apple Configurator 2 for macOS

To supervise a device with Apple Configurator, follow the steps below:

  1. If not downloaded already, download the latest version of Apple Configurator.

  2. Connect the iOS device to the computer using the necessary cable.

  3. Open Apple Configurator.

  4. In the 'All devices' tab, click on the iOS device and then click Prepare.

    This image shows how an iPad appears in Apple Configurator 2.

  5. Select Manual Configuration from the drop down, check the box for Supervise devices, and click Next.​

    This image shows the first step to preparing devices, where you need to select manual configuration and that you want to supervise device.

  6. Select Do Not Enroll in MDM and click Next.​

    This screen shows that on the enroll in MDM server pane, you should select Do not enroll in MDM.

  7. If prompted, enter organization information and click Next. Then either choose an existing supervision identity or generate a new supervision identity for your organization. Click Next.
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  8. You don't have to make any changes on the Configure iOS Setup Assistant page. It is not relevant for the process. Ensure the device has a network connection and click Prepare.

    This image shows the configure OS Setup Assistant page of the preparing process which contains the final prepare button.

  9. Watch the progress of the device as it prepares. Do not close out the window or unplug the device until the process is complete.

    This page shows what the Apple Configurator 2 screen will display while the device is being prepared.

  10. If the device is already setup you might see a message saying it needs to be erased. Click Erase. ​

    This image shows the pop up during the enrollment process where we need to confirm to erase the iPad in order to prepare it.

  11. Once the preparation process has completed, the device can now be enrolled in Jamf School using on-device enrollment. Follow the steps in the Jamf School documentation to complete the on-device enrollment workflow.

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