Ipads locked with Apple IDs

Question

Level 1

78 points

Ipads locked with Apple IDs

My school has a bunch of iPads that that we use for teaching, and on a few apparently some user signed in with a personal Apple ID. Most likely they are former students who used the iPads and have long since graduated. The person in charge of checking these devices out to students (sort of like a librarian in charge of IT assets) didn't realize this and has no idea what to do about it.

This brings to mind two questions:

Can anything be done about this?
These iPads are quite old (2nd gen I think) so the school might just retire these and buy some new ones, but we might not if there is the potential for this to happen again. Is there any way to prevent students who borrow iPads from locking them with their Apple IDs? What does Apple suggest to a business that loans out iPads or iPhones to its students or employees but doesn't want the borrowers to be able to lock them down with personal Apple IDs?

iPad 2

Posted on Nov 23, 2020 6:21 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

KiltedTim

Level 10

226,512 points

Nov 23, 2020 6:24 PM in response to augratin

The only way to deal with it would be to take the original invoices to Apple and have the activation lock removed.

Failing that, recycle them.

To prevent this from happening, enroll in Apple's Business Manager (formerly Device Enrollment) and use an MDM to manage the devices.

Reply

Answer 2

Lyssa

Level 8

41,405 points

Nov 29, 2020 12:48 PM in response to augratin

The iPad 2 is over 8 years old and maxes out at iOS 9. I wouldn't bother fixing those.

I do second the recommendation to transition to Apple Business Manager and use an MDM to prevent this in the future.

~Lyssa

Reply

Answer 3

celliott147

Level 6

12,588 points

Nov 27, 2020 9:12 AM in response to augratin

Many orgs are not set up to prevent this (even though it is completely preventable). I would double check everything if I were you.

If you're not already, I would recommend looking into a good MDM platform to use along side ABM. There are many great options ranging from free (Simple MDM), to low cost (Jamf Now and Mosyle), to significant investments (Jamf Pro).

Reply

Answer 4

celliott147

Level 6

12,588 points

Dec 6, 2020 7:15 AM in response to augratin

Unfortunately, if they're activation locked, there is nothing you can do.

Are you "purchasing" Keynote through the Volume Portal?

Reply

Answer 5

augratin Author

Level 1

78 points

Nov 26, 2020 7:19 PM in response to KiltedTim

Thanks for this. I didn't know about Business Manager.

The school also has a lot of Macs set up in classrooms, computer labs and the library, so surely somebody at the school must know about this otherwise a user could sign in with a personal ID and effectively lock everyone else out of the device.

Reply

Answer 6

augratin Author

Level 1

78 points

Dec 6, 2020 5:39 PM in response to celliott147

I don't really know what that means, and in any event I am not in charge of purchasing anything at my school.

These devices have been sitting around, unused, for years. I discovered them and decided to put them to use. Most of them don't have Keynote, and it can't be downloaded anymore, so I need to restore them with an image that has Keynote in it.

Reply

Answer 7

celliott147

Level 6

12,588 points

Dec 10, 2020 8:27 AM in response to augratin

It has to be purchased from the App Store, but there is a different process for businesses, schools, non-profits, and governments.

The license is for a specific individual user, not for an IT department to deploy to multiple users. For an IT department to deploy, you need to acquire the app through the volume portal within Apple Business/School Manager.

Reply

Answer 8

augratin Author

Level 1

78 points

Nov 29, 2020 9:30 PM in response to Lyssa

They still work reasonably well and don't need to be "fixed". I only want to delete the Apple ID account so that I can restore a backup onto the device. The existing setup lacks Keynote and the App Store turns up its nose in haughty disgust when I try to download it. I have an image of an iPad 2 with Keynote on it, so copying that image onto the iPad would be a way to make the device useful again.

Old or not, they are expensive assets and no school in its right mind is just going to toss them into the recycle bin as long as they're still potentially useful.

Reply

Answer 9

celliott147

Level 6

12,588 points

Dec 7, 2020 8:07 AM in response to augratin

The image with Keynote will not work unless keynote was properly purchased.

I strongly recommend checking out this video from the Penn State Mac Admins Conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaUSClocevM

Their channel would be a huge benefit overall. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiRYn1OSRv2bvU3enNwoZxg

Reply

Answer 10

augratin Author

Level 1

78 points

Dec 9, 2020 6:44 PM in response to celliott147

"The image with Keynote will not work unless keynote was properly purchased."

Well of course. Was there some other way to get Keynote back in 2011 aside from purchasing it from the app store? How else would Keynote get onto my image if I hadn't purchased it and backed up the original iPad? Also, I have since restored 8 old iPads with this image and they're all working fine.

[editing this to add:] It's my understanding that apps belong to the apple ID account, not to a specific device. Isn't that right? So whether I own two iPads or twenty, it's permissible for me to install my apps on every single one of them.

Reply

Ipads locked with Apple IDs

Similar questions