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Manually add devices to Apple Business Manager?

I work at a company that has 100+ iPhones that are not being managed through apple business manager. We need to get these into ABM so we can properly manage them. I have been researching how to add devices manually, however the option for adding devices by serial number, which I've seen in so many videos and guides, is not available in our portal.


I also read that you can use some configuration software on a MacBook to add them, but we don't have any MacBooks to do this.


How do I add these devices?

Posted on Dec 9, 2020 10:57 PM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 10, 2020 8:22 AM

Adding by serial number has never been available. You have been able to use serial number to assign devices that were already assigned through purchasing to your MDM.


The only 2 methods to enroll in ABM are:

  1. Connecting to a Mac and preparing using Apple Configurator 2 (this is for iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS devices only).
  2. Purchasing directly through Apple's business portal or through an authorized reseller. For both of these, you will need to provide your customer ID and get the reseller ID when connecting the accounts.

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 10, 2020 8:22 AM in response to Community User

Adding by serial number has never been available. You have been able to use serial number to assign devices that were already assigned through purchasing to your MDM.


The only 2 methods to enroll in ABM are:

  1. Connecting to a Mac and preparing using Apple Configurator 2 (this is for iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS devices only).
  2. Purchasing directly through Apple's business portal or through an authorized reseller. For both of these, you will need to provide your customer ID and get the reseller ID when connecting the accounts.

Manually add devices to Apple Business Manager?

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