I work in IT at a small company where some employees have company-purchased iPhones. I was wondering what is the recommended set up for iCloud on these devices? Should they create a personal iCloud account, or should they use an iCloud account created by the company?
Please note we are a small company and do not have the money or resources for an iOS device management solution.
Create a company account and use it to lock the iPads /iPhones (find my iPhone on) do not let the employees use their personal accounts for security settings, you won't be able to use the IOS devices if they don't give you their password (which they may not want to do)
So you would recommend using a single company iCloud account and using that on all company-owned devices? What about when the user wants to download apps for personal, non-company use? Those apps might use iCloud to sync settings and data. And what about making sure their contacts are backed up since they can't use iCloud?
dbird03 wrote:
So you would recommend using a single company iCloud account and using that on all company-owned devices?
Yes
dbird03 wrote:
What about when the user wants to download apps for personal, non-company use?
Personally, users should not be downloading personal apps to company owned devices, but that's just the IT Manager in me talking.
dbird03 wrote:
Those apps might use iCloud to sync settings and data. And what about making sure their contacts are backed up since they can't use iCloud?
They can use iCloud. Since the devices would be logged in to the company iCloud account, all backups and and data syncs would happen on the company iCloud account. You don't need to log in to iCloud after the first login really.
If you choose to allow personal downloads they can sign into the app store using their own account, this will not affect the security of the device. It will still be locked to the company account.
I agree that users should not use company-owned equipment for personal use, but a mobile phone is sort of a gray area since it's their only phone. They don't have a personal phone and a company iPhone. They just have one phone to use for both personal and company use.
With one iCloud account used on all company-owned devices, that means Joe's contacts and Sally's contacts would be intertwined. That doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
At this point, I'm inclined to let users use a personal iCloud account. The only reason the company is even involved is because they own the physical device. There's no concern that an employee would ever steal an iPhone. When they leave, they will sign out of their iCloud account and return the iPhone. Then they can go buy their own iPhone and continue using their personal iCloud account.
Set a company account as the primary, use it to secure the phone, disable all other services (unless you would like the company email account in action, easy way to send mail to all employees, a company calendar can also be useful) add their personal account as the secondary, turn on whichever services are required (contacts etc) on the personal account.
On the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch: Settings > Mail, Contacts and Calendars > Add Account > iCloud.
On the Mac: System Preferences > Mail, Contacts and Calendars > + (at the bottom of the sidebar) > iCloud.
Note that a second iCloud account may not have the same features as the main iCloud account
I agree with Csound1. You can setup the company account to secure the iPhone, and then setup their personal account to sync contacts through the Mail,Contacts,Calendars Settings.
Its not about them stealing the iPhone, its about having a device you can still use, if and when an employee is let go, and chooses not to unlock it from their account. It happens more frequently that you would like. And a locked iPhone would be useless to the company.
You would then have to go through a series of steps to get Apple to unlock the device so you can use it again.
Phil0124 and Csound1,
I understand what you mean now. That wouldn't be a bad idea. Thanks for your advice!
dbird03 wrote:
Phil0124 and Csound1,
I understand what you mean now. That wouldn't be a bad idea. Thanks for your advice!
You're welcome.
Personal or company iCloud account on company-owned iPhones?
