Apple Configurator OR Profile Manager?

The Profile Manager is a part of the OS X Server and can manage devices over the air. For preparing and supervising devices the Apple Configurator is still needed and not replaced by the Profile Manager. The Apple Configurator can only manage devices attached by USB, the Profile Manager manages devices via internet.

Kind Regards,

SSI JDE

Hi Alastair,

Profile Manager (and other MDMs) allow for over the air management of iPads. You can "supervise" iPads OTA with an MDM if the device is enrolled in Apple's Device Enrollment Program (aka DEP)...you no longer need Configurator to "supervise" them. You will find that using DEP with Profile Manager or another MDM is very useful for one-to-one deployment scenarios, especially when taking advantage of Apple's Volume Purchase Plan's Managed Distribution licenses (aka VPP MD) for app deployment. With Profile Manager, you can set up various configuration profiles to customize your fleet of iPads wirelessly.

Apple Configurator is Apple's supported tool for a shared deployment model (like for a school cart of iPads being used by various students). You can deploy apps using Configurator without requiring an Apple ID on each device (Apple Configurator uses a single Apple ID to deploy apps to the cart of iPads). So when devices are not assigned to a specific user, Apple Configurator will be the tool to use.

So think MDM for one-to-one, Configurator for shared. In our environment of 2,500+ iPads, we manage both carts of iPads for some schools as well as one-to-one devices using a 3rd party MDM. We use Apple Configurator to set up our shared carts while using our MDM to set up our one-to-one devices via DEP. Note that if you are using DEP to supervise and manage your devices, you can't use Configurator too (you must supervise by either your MDM or Configurator, not both). You can however have some degree of OTA management on shared Configurator devices by enrolling your Configurator cart of iPads to the MDM and deploying configuration profiles OTA. So you can "enroll" devices into your MDM without "supervising" them using the MDM and have some limited OTA management capabilities to shared carts that are "supervised" by Apple Configurator. You just can't "supervise" with both MDM and Configurator on a single device.

Until Apple allows for full OTA management of shared devices, I don't see Configurator going away. It is still the supported tool for shared cart deployments. I hope that will someday change.

Hope this answers your question. Good luck!!

~Joe

This is an excellent explanation. Provided instant clarity on this. Thank you.

Can I ask a question nsdjoey- What third party solution did you go with and why? Also how many iPads do you recommend to use on the apple profile manager without too many issues?