Explore the intersection of business and app development. Discuss topics like device management, education, and resources for aspiring app developers.

All subtopics
Posts under Business & Education topic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Third party apps can not be restricted access to the camera in iOS 26.1
We use Device Management Profile to restrict all apps from using camera on unsupervised devices. It works fine until iOS 26.1 beta. In iOS 26.1, only the camera icon is removed from Home screen, the third party apps can still use camera. In our scenario, the camera of employees' iPhones are disabled when they enter the factory and are restored when they leave. According to the documentation, disabling camera on unsupervised devices is deprecated. But supervision is not feasible option because these iPhones are owned personally by employees. Is there any new solution for camera restriction on unsupervised devices? Thanks.
2
0
389
18h
Incorrect MDM Command Structure in DeclarativeManagement Example
I'm writing to point out a potential structural error in an example of the DeclarativeManagement command. This could cause significant confusion for developers implementing the MDM protocol. The standard structure for a server-to-device MDM command requires CommandUUID and the Command dictionary to be siblings under the top-level dictionary. The CommandUUID serves as a top-level identifier for the entire command envelope. This is the correct, expected structure: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Command</key> <dict> <key>Command</key> <dict> <key>RequestType</key> <string>DeclarativeManagement</string> </dict> </dict> <key>CommandUUID</key> <string>0001_DeclarativeManagement</string> </dict> </plist> This is an example of the incorrect structure I've seen: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Command</key> <dict> <key>CommandUUID</key> <string>0001_DeclarativeManagement</string> <key>Command</key> <dict> <key>RequestType</key> <string>DeclarativeManagement</string> </dict> </dict> </dict> </plist>
0
0
141
1d
need to bypass the Software Update domains in NETransparentProxy.
Hi team, We need to identify the domains used by macOS Software Update so they can be bypassed by our NETransparentProxy. The Apple support article below lists Software Update and several other Apple service domains. At the moment we’re unsure whether we should only bypass the Software Update and Beta Software domains, or whether we also need to bypass domains used for certificate validation, device management (Apple Business Manager / Apple School Manager / Apple Business Essentials), network provider updates, Apple Diagnostics, etc. We also need the specific IP ranges used exclusively by Software Update. The document shows Apple’s entire IP range; for IPv4 you can allow outbound connections to 17.0.0.0/8. https://support.apple.com/en-in/101555
1
0
219
2d
Azure AD Graph API retirement and Apple Internet Accounts
Microsoft are retiring the “Azure AD Graph API”. We allow the use of Apple email apps in our M365 tenant via the “Apple Internet Accounts” Entra ID Enterprise Application, however this is using the “User.Read” permission from this retiring “Azure AD Graph API”. My concern is that Apple email app’s will stop working in our tenant when Microsoft retire the “Azure AD Graph API” and this permission is removed, as this is an Apple managed Enterprise Application, we have no method of changing the permissions ourselves. I have not been able to find any information on how the “Apple Internet Accounts” Entra ID Enterprise Application can be updated to use the required, newer “Microsoft Graph API” “User.Read” permission. It is not possible for us to change the permissions on the “Apple Internet Accounts” Entra ID Enterprise Application in our tenant, my assumption is that Apple would need to deploy a newer version of Email app that uses the newer “Microsoft Graph API” “User.Read” permission, and we would then need to consent the use of this new permission in our tenant. I would have thought Apple would have deploy this by now, but we have not seen any consent requests. Does anyone have any information about how Apple are handling this Microsoft change and how we can pre-emptively update the “Apple Internet Accounts” Entra ID Enterprise Application to ensure that Apple email client continue to work in our tenant? Many thanks.
1
1
975
3d
Delays in associating the serial of a device with an app in apple business manager
We are expering frequent delays recently when associating a device serial with the adamid of an app in our business manager account. I get an event id back when calling the /associate api but when i check the status of that event id is can be sat in a pending state for sometimes several hours. Need to understand why and if its a configuration issue
0
0
240
4d
ABM API Problems with C# and PEM file
I am needing to access the ABM API via C#. Searching has directed me to use BouncyCastle. I have downloaded the PEM file. However, using the following: using (var reader = File.OpenText(pemFilePath)) { var pemReader = new PemReader(reader); var keyObject = pemReader.ReadObject(); I get the error "problem creating EC private key: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object."
2
0
488
4d
Managing order of Transparent Proxies from MDM like JAMF
There could be a case where-in multiple transparent proxies might exist in the system (for ex., Cisco AnyConnect, GlobalProtect, etc). We want to know if there is a way to order transparent proxies so that the desired transparent proxy gets the request first. During our research, we found a resource which talks about ordering transparent proxies through MDM. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/vpn/transparentproxy Using this reference, we tried to create a profile and push it through JAMF. Below is the profile that we created and pushed with JAMF. Property List - &lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt; &lt;!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"&gt; &lt;plist version="1.0"&gt; &lt;dict&gt; &lt;key&gt;TransparentProxy&lt;/key&gt; &lt;array&gt; &lt;dict&gt; &lt;key&gt;ProviderBundleIdentifier&lt;/key&gt; &lt;string&gt;com.paloaltonetworks.GlobalProtect.client.extension&lt;/string&gt; &lt;key&gt;Order&lt;/key&gt; &lt;string&gt;1&lt;/string&gt; &lt;/dict&gt; &lt;dict&gt; &lt;key&gt;ProviderBundleIdentifier&lt;/key&gt; &lt;string&gt;com.cisco.anyconnect.macos.acsockext&lt;/string&gt; &lt;key&gt;Order&lt;/key&gt; &lt;string&gt;2&lt;/string&gt; &lt;/dict&gt; &lt;dict&gt; &lt;key&gt;ProviderBundleIdentifier&lt;/key&gt; &lt;string&gt;com.mydomain.transparentproxy&lt;/string&gt; &lt;key&gt;Order&lt;/key&gt; &lt;string&gt;3&lt;/string&gt; &lt;/dict&gt; &lt;/array&gt; We are not sure if this is the right way to create the profile, though JAMF is not throwing any error while pushing this profile. We see this profile on the local machine as "/Library/Managed Preferences/com.apple.networking.vpn-transparent-list.plist". Is there a way to know if the profile took effect and the order of transparent proxies has changed. Thanks in advance.
3
9
1.2k
6d
iOS 26 devices in Single App Mode stuck on lock screen
On iOS 26, if in "Single App Mode", the device gets stuck on the lock screen. Devices are configured in SAM (kiosk mode), without a PIN requirement. Since updating to iPadOS 26, every single device that locks (goes to sleep) becomes completely unresponsive at the lock screen. Touch input does not work. The only way to regain access is to reboot the device, which will boot to the SAM app, but then lock again if it goes to sleep. Related discussion in the public forums.
1
2
889
1w
app to restriction student phone use in schools
I work at a school in NYC and have a software idea that could better support the new NYC phone ban law than current market options (i.e. Yondr pouches). Right now at my school, students and staff scan a QR code upon entering the building to indicate that they are in the building. They scan again on the way out to indicate they've left the building. This is super helpful for attendance, particularly in emergency situations (fire drills, etc). Imagine if when students scanned their QR code, it also activated an app similar to Opal or ScreenZen, but with an admin preset whitelisted apps. The idea is that this app would default deny access to all apps on students' phones except the admin preset whitelisted ones such as Phone, Calculator, etc. Depending on the age/needs of the student, other apps like Spotify, or medical apps could also be whitelisted. My question is -- is this idea possible to create? We would need admin preset controls to create the preset whitelist. We can't have students picking their own restrictions, as we know most would opt to not restrict at all. We would need an admin dashboard so teachers/admin can see which students have activated the app in the building, and which may be trying to sneakily avoid it. We would ideally need to be able to whitelist both system apps like Phone and Calculator, as well as non-system apps such as Spotify (and medical apps -- we have some students who manage/monitor their Diabetes with an app). I don't have a background in software. I'm a math and health teacher. I've experimented with trying to have friends who majored in CS to create this app for me, but they've all either struggled/lost interest. So I'm also looking for a business partner in this venture. If anyone has any guidance here, it would be so helpful! My boss (Head of School) is super interested in this idea and significantly prefers it to every other alternative that he has encountered. The problem is this idea does not exist yet! Note: I know this is a super similar idea to the app and product "Brick". Notably, though, Brick does not have the ability for admin preset controls, or the admin dashboard. We reached out to the company to see if they're create this for us and they said it's a back burner idea that they're aware of, but it's not a priority for them right now. Thank you for any guidance!
4
0
528
1w
Platform SSO registration fails on Mobile AD accounts
We are facing an issue with Platform SSO registration on macOS devices for AD-bound user accounts with Microsoft EntraID configuration. We are using the Platform SSO payload on macOS devices integrated with Entra ID, and it works as expected — registration completes successfully, and the password syncs with the Entra ID password. However, when we try the same on macOS devices with AD-bound (mobile) user accounts, the registration does not complete. To elaborate, the process successfully completes the initial WebView authentication but fails at the stage where Apple prompts for the password to sync the local macOS user’s password with the Entra ID password. It does not display any error, and even after entering a valid password, the process does not proceed further. However, when we try the same on a non-AD user account, it works fine. We have checked with Microsoft, and they confirmed that there are no restrictions on their side for AD-bound accounts. Since the issue appears to occur at the Apple system level, they advised us to reach Apple teams on this. Could you please check and let us know how we can proceed with this? Payload used: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>PayloadContent</key> <array> <dict> <key>AuthenticationMethod</key> <string>Password</string> <key>ExtensionIdentifier</key> <string>com.microsoft.CompanyPortalMac.ssoextension</string> <key>PayloadDisplayName</key> <string>Extensible Single Sign-On Payload</string> <key>PayloadIdentifier</key> <string>com.apple.extensiblesso.B408A658-3DAF-41FF-8A5D-AE77B380CB7B</string> <key>PayloadType</key> <string>com.apple.extensiblesso</string> <key>PayloadUUID</key> <string>D506CAFD-C802-41F2-9C3E-DF5289C315FF</string> <key>PayloadVersion</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>PlatformSSO</key> <dict> <key>AccountDisplayName</key> <string>EntraID</string> <key>AuthenticationMethod</key> <string>Password</string> <key>EnableCreateUserAtLogin</key> <true/> <key>LoginFrequency</key> <integer>3700</integer> <key>LoginPolicy</key> <array> <string>AttemptAuthentication</string> </array> <key>NewUserAuthorizationMode</key> <string>Admin</string> <key>UseSharedDeviceKeys</key> <true/> <key>UserAuthorizationMode</key> <string>Admin</string> </dict> <key>ScreenLockedBehavior</key> <string>DoNotHandle</string> <key>TeamIdentifier</key> <string>UBF8T346G9</string> <key>Type</key> <string>Redirect</string> <key>URLs</key> <array> <string>https://login.microsoftonline.com</string> <string>https://sts.windows.net</string> <string>https://login.partner.microsoftonline.cn</string> <string>https://login.chinacloudapi.cn</string> <string>https://login.microsoftonline.us</string> <string>https://login.microsoft.com</string> <string>https://login-us.microsoftonline.com</string> </array> </dict> </array> <key>PayloadDisplayName</key> <string>Platform SSO</string> <key>PayloadIdentifier</key> <string>42GBHOLAP04621.1BD5B6D9-640B-4DC3-9275-56DDD191A5FB</string> <key>PayloadType</key> <string>Configuration</string> <key>PayloadUUID</key> <string>58548FC6-38D9-4B28-9EDF-BEEAB03BAB23</string> <key>PayloadVersion</key> <integer>1</integer> </dict> </plist>
0
0
29
1w
[iOS 26.1 beta 2] allowCamera restriction not working properly on both supervised and BYOD devices
Details: Device: iPhone 12 Pro Max System: iOS 26.1 beta 2 Issue Description: When testing MDM device restriction capabilities on iOS 26.1 beta 2, I found that the allowCamera restriction does not work as expected. Observed Behavior: • On a BYOD device: When allowCamera is set to false, the Camera and FaceTime apps disappear from the Home Screen, as expected. However, third-party apps (such as WeChat) can still access the camera and take photos. • On earlier versions (e.g. iOS 26.0.1): Setting allowCamera to false correctly blocks all apps, including third-party apps, from accessing the camera. Initially, I assumed Apple might have changed this restriction behavior so that allowCamera only applies to supervised devices. However, after testing on supervised devices, I found that even there, when allowCamera is set to false, the Camera and FaceTime apps are hidden, but third-party apps can still use the camera. This indicates that the restriction is not functioning correctly in iOS 26.1 beta 2. Expectation: When allowCamera is set to false, all camera access — including third-party apps — should be blocked. Request: Could someone from Apple’s development or MDM team confirm whether this is an expected behavior change or a potential bug in iOS 26.1 beta 2?
0
0
135
1w
📱 [iOS 26.1 beta 2] allowCamera restriction not working properly on both supervised and BYOD devices
Details: Device: iPhone 12 Pro Max System: iOS 26.1 beta 2 Issue Description: When testing MDM device restriction capabilities on iOS 26.1 beta 2, I found that the allowCamera restriction does not work as expected. Observed Behavior: • On a BYOD device: When allowCamera is set to false, the Camera and FaceTime apps disappear from the Home Screen, as expected. However, third-party apps (such as WeChat) can still access the camera and take photos. • On earlier versions (e.g. iOS 26.0.1): Setting allowCamera to false correctly blocks all apps, including third-party apps, from accessing the camera. Initially, I assumed Apple might have changed this restriction behavior so that allowCamera only applies to supervised devices. However, after testing on supervised devices, I found that even there, when allowCamera is set to false, the Camera and FaceTime apps are hidden, but third-party apps can still use the camera. This indicates that the restriction is not functioning correctly in iOS 26.1 beta 2. Expectation: When allowCamera is set to false, all camera access — including third-party apps — should be blocked. Request: Could someone from Apple’s development or MDM team confirm whether this is an expected behavior change or a potential bug in iOS 26.1 beta 2?
0
1
54
1w
iOS 26.1 beta2 bug
After applying the MDM camera restriction on iOS 26.1 beta 2, the camera availability status is reported incorrectly. After applying the MDM camera restriction [UIImagePickerController isSourceTypeAvailable:UIImagePickerControllerSourceTypeCamera] return YES
0
1
452
2w
Inquiry: Inconsistent VPP UpdateBehavior with DDM (auto-update timing + manual-update gating)
Hi there, We’re testing Declarative Device Management (DDM) for VPP app management and followed the latest declaration template here: https://github.com/apple/device-management/blob/release/declarative/declarations/configurations/app.managed.yaml Our goal is to enable VPP auto-updates via the declaration. The payload we’re using looks like this: "AppStoreID": "1231325957", "InstallBehavior": "{\"Install\": \"Required\", \"License\": {\"Assignment\": \"Device\"}}", "UpdateBehavior": "{\"AutomaticAppUpdates\": \"AlwaysOn\"}" } What we’re seeing Device A (no Apple ID signed into App Store): User can manually update the VPP app with the above declaration in place. ( The same user cannot update the app if UpdateBehavior is not in the declaration payload. Device B (Apple ID signed into App Store, and the same Apple ID doesn't have the above app purchased): User cannot manually update the same VPP app. The App Store shows the error seen when UpdateBehavior is absent: “ cannot be updated because it was refunded or purchased with a different Apple Account.” Also, in this case, the user has no way to purchase the (free) app by their own as the app shows as owned/managed by MDM server. We have to remove the declaration, let the user purchase the same app, then re-deploy the declaration to allow the user to click that "Update" button when a new version for that app is available. Additionally, we’re unsure about the criteria/timing for automatic VPP app updates under DDM. After a new version became available, we waited several hours but the app did not auto-update. Repro summary App: VPP, device-assigned license Declaration: AutomaticAppUpdates = AlwaysOn, install required Device A: not signed into App Store → manual update allowed Device B: signed into App Store → manual update blocked with “refunded/different account” error Auto-update did not occur after waiting several hours post-release Any guidance, confirmation of expected behavior, or tips on additional logging we should collect (e.g., specific App Store / MDM / DDM logs and subsystems) would be greatly appreciated. If this is a known issue or requires a Feedback Assistant report, we’re happy to file one. Thanks,
1
0
394
2w
Managed Apple ID - Testflight not useable
Hi, I run a midsize business. Apple recommends for company owned devices and for other reasons to use Apple Business managed Apple IDs for the employees. After that, you have to use a MDM System for e.g. deploying apps and licenses. Testflight is an app that can be deployed too. But....Testflight can not more than to say "Hello" on a managed device. The use of Testflight and to test our developed apps is not possible with a managed ID. Can anyone explain to me this thinking or what is recommended than. Setting up a private Apple ID for that purpose...which on the other hand, Apple do not want or does not recommend.
4
8
1.9k
2w