How do I transfer a paid app from one iPad to another?

Question

Level 1

4 points

How do I transfer a paid app from one iPad to another?

I am not sure where is the best place to post this question, but here it is anyway:

The school I work in has 37 iPads split between 2 mobile carts. For a variety of reasons, the staff wands the iPads divided up by classroom. No problem. The problem is that they would like the paid apps on the ipads moved around so the grade level apps wind up in the appropriate classrooms. This is logical.

My problem is I have no real idea how to free up iPads from one iPad so that they are available for transfer to another ipad. I use Apple Configurator to acquire paid apps from the Volume Purchasing Program and download/install them initially to iPads.

One knowledgeable individual gave me this advice:

"If you placed the apps on the ipad using Apple Configurator, then you should be able to attach the initial iPad to AC, unsupervise the iPad, and the apps' licences should be available for redistribution. Then connect iPad #2 to AC, turn Supervision on in AC, then add the specific app to iPad #2."

- - - - That sounded too good to be true. I tried it and found out that that process does not free up app licences (at lest when I tried it). What I think is the problem is that I don't know Apple products and iOS well enough and missed steps. (I am from the Netware/Microsoft AD/Windows computing environment.)

Could someone help an old grunt out and possibly provide a detailled set of steps how to transfer paid app licences from one iPad to another? I appreciate any help. Thanks

iPad 2, iOS 8.1.3

Posted on Feb 18, 2015 10:18 AM

Reply

Answer 1

nsdjoey

Level 3

961 points

Feb 18, 2015 10:50 AM in response to Technician7

Hi Technician7,

It is true that you can "return" app licenses to Apple Configurator and redistribute that license to another iPad. The key is that both iPads must be "Supervised" in order to return the app license. See this from Apple:

Removing apps from devices

If you use Apple Configurator to remove a redeemed VPP app from a supervised device, Apple Configurator marks the corresponding redemption code as available. It can be reassigned to a different device supervised by this copy of Apple Configurator for this Mac only. It is not available for redemption by other Macs or iOS devices.

If you unsupervise a supervised device, all apps will be removed from the device and the redemption codes used to install those apps will be marked available for reassignment. If you simply remove a device record from Apple Configurator, the redemption codes for any apps on that device will not be available for reassignment.

I hope this answers your question!

~Joe

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Answer 2

Technician7 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 18, 2015 1:17 PM in response to nsdjoey

Thanks for the reply. Any assistance is appreciated.

I guess what I need to know is exactly how one unsupervises a device. Since I can't free any app licences up, I'm guessing that just connecting an iPad to apple Configurator, then turning the Supervision switch off isn't enough to free up licences. I kind of figured there has to be more to it than that.

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Answer 3

Kenny42

Level 1

39 points

Feb 19, 2015 8:37 AM in response to Technician7

If you plug the iPad into a computer with Configurator it should show up in the supervised tab (Note: It must be the same computer/account that was used to supervise the device). If you click on USB connected devices on the left and then right click on the connected iPad and choose Unsupervise, this will remove the app while retaining the license in Configurator. To verify, go to your app list and verify that there is a 1 next to the app (assuming you only have the one license you just released). I work for a school and we have quite a few purchased apps and this method has worked flawlessly for me.

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Answer 4

Technician7 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 19, 2015 2:29 PM in response to Kenny42

Kenny42:

Thanks for your input! It does work. Earlier today I found the following document which showed me how to unsupervise iPads:

http://ipads.cps.edu/uploads/2/4/0/4/24043694/apple_configurator_-_supervising__ unsupervising_ipads.pdf

I used this information, which is identical to your advice, to successfully transfer paid iPad apps back and forth on our iPads.

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