Supervision is a status of trust granted by Apple that gives MDM platforms like Addigy significantly more control over enrolled Apple devices. It's a critical part of device management, especially for mobile devices, unlocking management capabilities that aren't available otherwise.
This article covers what supervision is, what's required to supervise a device, and what you can do with a device once it's supervised.
Requirements
OS Requirements
Per Apple's documentation, supervision currently requires:
- iPhone with iOS 13 or later
- iPad with iPadOS 13.1 or later
- Mac computers with macOS 10.14.4 or later
- Apple TV with tvOS 13 or later
- Apple Watch with watchOS 10 or later
The device must also meet Addigy's own requirements — see Addigy System Requirements.
Enrollment Requirements
iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS devices must be enrolled via one of the following:
- Automated Device Enrollment with Apple Business/School Manager — see How to Configure Automated Device Enrollment
- Automated Device Enrollment with Apple Configurator — see Overview: Apple Configurator 2
macOS devices must be enrolled via one of the following:
- Manually enrolled into MDM via User-Approved MDM — see How To: Manually Enroll macOS into Addigy's MDM
- Enrolled via Automated Device Enrollment with Apple Business/School Manager
- Enrolled via Automated Device Enrollment with Apple Configurator
What Supervision Enables
Supervision unlocks a wide range of management capabilities. This isn't an exhaustive list, but covers the most notable ones:
- Managed Activation Lock
- Managed Lost Mode (iOS/iPadOS specific)
- Delete users (on iOS, requires the device to be in education mode)
- List users (on iOS, requires the device to be in education mode)
- Change wallpaper via MDM (iOS/iPadOS specific)
- Clear passcode (iOS/iPadOS specific)
- Clear restrictions (iOS/iPadOS specific)
- Disable Remote Desktop (macOS specific)
- Restart or shut down devices via MDM
- Rename devices via MDM
- Configure the Home Screen Layout
- Configure the Single App Lock Device Setting (Profile)
- Configure a wide range of settings via the Restrictions Device Setting (Profile), including:
- macOS/iOS/iPadOS: allow erase all content and settings, allow passcode modifications, allow Touch ID to unlock devices, allow AirDrop
- iOS/iPadOS: allow app removal, allow system app removal, allow VPN configurations, allow Find My Device, allow Find My Friends, allow/block list of apps, allow app installation, allow installing apps via the App Store, allow Safari