Apple ID to App purchase, how many?

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Level 1

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Apple ID to App purchase, how many?

Ok...So currently with our elementary school we have 50 iPads in use. Since it is an elementary level the students DO NOT have their own Apple ID's for use with the iPads and we have all 50 iPads hooked into the same account regarding the app store and such. Since we only use one Apple ID across all the iPads for student use the apps we purchase download across them all without need for more than one purchase. So far we haven't had any issuesHowever, looking into it I can't seem to get a straight answer if this is proper or not. Some places say only 5 devices per download, others 10, and the Terms of Service from Apple itself isn't much clearer.

I don't even know how to interpret that because it says that you can only have 10 devices, but then ( i) and ( iv) don't apply?

Elsewhere I found this description:

(ii) If You are a commercial enterprise or educational institution, You may download and sync a Product for use by either (a) a single individual on one or more devices You own or control or (b) multiple individuals, on a single shared device You own or control. For example, a single employee may use the Product on both the employee's iPhone and iPad, or multiple students may serially use the Product on a single iPad located at a resource center or library.

By this I was under the impression that since it was a resource used by multiple students but under one user license we only need to buy the one user code.

TL;DR:

Can I use one ID across multiple devices in a school and only buy 1 copy of the app we need to sync across them all?

Any help or clarification would be great.

iOS 8.1

Posted on Mar 18, 2015 7:52 AM

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Answer 1

nsdjoey

Level 3

961 points

Mar 18, 2015 9:06 AM in response to klamarre

Hi klamarre,

I work for a school district and am in charge of managing our fleet of 2,600 iPads. Legally, for multiple users using multiple iPads (like in schools) you need to use VPP to purchase a separate license for each iPad (can't share one Apple ID for 10 devices used by 10 students). You can accomplish this with an MDM or with Apple Configurator. Here's some of Apple's verbiage that talks about App Store licensing on iOS devices:

APP STORE PRODUCT USAGE RULES

( i )If you are an individual acting in your personal capacity, you may download and sync an App Store Product for personal, noncommercial use on any iOS Device you own or control.

( ii ) If you are a commercial enterprise or educational institution, you may download and sync an App Store Product for use by either (a) a single individual on one or more iOS Devices used by that individual that you own or control or (b) multiple individuals, on a single shared iOS Device you own or control. For example, a single employee may use an App Store Product on both the employee's iPhone and iPad, or multiple students may serially use an App Store Product on a single iPad located at a resource center or library. For the sake of clarity, each iOS Device used serially by multiple users requires a separate license.

As an educational institution you will want to enroll in Apple's Volume Purchase Program (VPP) which allows a single Apple ID to purchase multiple licenses of an app. Most developers will offer a 50% discount on their app when 20 or more VPP licenses are purchased in a single transaction.

There is a free OS X program called Apple Configurator that you can use to distribute the VPP codes to your fleet of iPads. Apple Configurator uses a single Apple ID to install apps on your iPads. Configurator will also allow you to install free apps on multiple iPads using a single enterprise Apple ID. See http://help.apple.com/configurator/mac/1.0/ for details.

For elementary students, if you are using them in a 1-to-1 scenario, you can give Apple IDs to each student using Apple's U13 program (scroll down about halfway down this page to read about Apple IDs for students under 13).

Hope this answers your question!

~Joe

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