Apple Business Manager

 

Whether you have ten devices or ten thousand, it’s easier than ever to integrate, manage, deploy, and secure your Apple devices. With Apple Business Manager, devices can be distributed directly to employees and used right out of the box all without manual configuration.

Apple Business Manager is a simple, web-based portal for IT administrators to deploy iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac computers all from one place. When this portal is used with your mobile device management (MDM) solution, you can configure device settings and buy and distribute content. Apple Business Manager integrates using federated authentication with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD) so you can quickly create employee accounts with Managed Apple IDs.

The Device Enrollment Program (DEP) and the Volume Purchase Program (VPP) are now completely integrated into Apple Business Manager, so organizations can bring together everything needed to deploy Apple devices. These programs will no longer be available starting December 1, 2019.

Getting Started

Signing Up for Apple Business Manager

Enrollment is simple and takes only a few minutes, so you can get started with Apple Business Manager quickly. Any business is eligible to participate, subject to the service terms and conditions. Apple reserves the right to determine program eligibility for each organization. This administrator will also be responsible for accepting the terms and conditions and for setting up additional
administrators to manage the service on behalf of your company.

Configuration

Now that your organization has enrolled in Apple Business Manager, you can add additional accounts, enter purchase information, and assign roles to begin managing devices and content.

Configure Federated Authentication

You can use federated authentication to link Apple Business Manager to your instance of Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD). As a result, your users can leverage their Microsoft Azure AD user names and passwords as Managed Apple IDs. They can then use their Microsoft Azure AD credentials to sign in to a compatible Apple device and even iCloud on the web.

Manage device assignments

Apple Business Manager integrates all the existing features from the Device Enrollment Program (DEP). Additionally, MDM servers can now be set as default based on device type, enabling you to set one server as default for Mac and another as default for iPhone and iPad.

Purchase content

Apple Business Manager provides a streamlined purchasing process. You can search for content, specify the quantity you want to purchase, and quickly complete the transaction using VPP Credit or a corporate credit card.

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Distribute and download content

With managed distribution, use your MDM solution or Apple Configurator 2 to manage apps and books distribution.

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Purchase and distribute custom apps

By collaborating with a third-party developer, you can have unique iOS and iPadOS apps tailored to your business needs, then distribute them at scale to your organization along with off-the-shelf App Store apps—further extending the use of iPhone and iPad. Whether you outsource development to an independent contractor or a commercial developer, or distribute your own apps
internally, distributing custom apps through Apple Business Manager is the simplest method for both you and your organization.