I'm using Apple's MDM protocol InstalledApplicationListCommand to get information about installed apps. From iOS/iPadOS 26, the app information obtained by InstalledApplicationListCommand includes information on all apps including system apps (apps that come standard with iOS/iPadOS). https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/installed-application-list-command I want iOS/iPadOS26 to get the same information as the app information I get from the previous iOS/iPadOS, and I want to exclude system apps from the app information I get with the InstalledApplicationListCommand. As a way to exclude system apps, you can use the app ID I'm thinking of a way to exclude anything that starts with "com.apple" (the Identifier key value of the InstalledApplicationListResponse.InstalledApplicationListItem object). As a way to exclude system apps, please tell us whether the above method is appropriate and whether there will be any problems in the future.

Attempts to programmatically update or add numerous system-installed certificates (a common practice for organizations that rotate certificates regularly) are blocked, forcing manual, insecure, and error-prone workarounds. The root cause lies in the stricter security protocols implemented in macOS 15, specifically: System Integrity Protection (SIP) and Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) Command we are using : sudo security authorizationdb write com.apple.trust-settings.admin

Hello, I’d like to clarify the technical limitations around app updates in an Apple School Manager (ASM) + MDM environment. Environment • iOS/iPadOS devices supervised and managed via Apple School Manager • Apps are distributed via ASM (VPP / Custom App) and managed by MDM • Apps are App Store–signed (not Enterprise/In-House) • Some apps include NetworkExtension (VPN) functionality • Automatic app updates are enabled in MDM Question From a technical and platform-design perspective, is it possible to: Deploy app updates for ASM/MDM-distributed App Store apps via a separate/custom update server, and trigger updates simultaneously across all managed devices, bypassing or supplementing the App Store update mechanism? In other words: • Can an organization operate its own update server to push a new app version to all devices at once? • Or is App Store + iOS always the sole execution path for installing updated app binaries? ⸻ My current understanding (please correct if wrong) Based on Apple documentation, it seems that: 1. App Store–distributed apps cannot self-update • Apps cannot download and install new binaries or replace themselves. • All executable code must be Apple-signed and installed by the system. 2. MDM can manage distribution and enable auto-update, but: • MDM cannot reliably trigger an immediate update for App Store apps. • Actual download/install timing is decided by iOS (device locked, charging, Wi-Fi, etc.). 3. Custom update servers • May be used for policy decisions (minimum allowed version, feature blocking), • But cannot be used to distribute or install updated app binaries on iOS. 4. For ASM-managed devices: • The only supported update execution path is: App Store → iOS → Managed App Update • Any “forced update” behavior must be implemented at the app logic level, not the installation level. ⸻ What I’m trying to confirm • Is there any supported MDM command, API, or mechanism that allows: • Centralized, immediate, one-shot updates of App Store apps across all ASM-managed devices? • Or is the above limitation fundamental by design, meaning: • Organizations must rely on iOS’s periodic auto-update behavior • And enforce version compliance only via app-side logic? ⸻ Why this matters In large school deployments, delayed updates (due to device conditions or OS scheduling) can cause: • Version fragmentation • Inconsistent behavior across classrooms • Operational issues for VPN / security-related apps Understanding whether this limitation is absolute or if there is a recommended Apple-supported workaround would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance for any clarification

We’re exploring the use of Apple’s Automatic Assessment Configuration entitlement for an iOS app currently in the proof-of-concept stage. We’re enrolled in the Apple Developer Program with an active subscription. Both the Account Holder and team members have accepted all relevant license agreements. However, when we try to access the entitlement request form at: 👉 https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/automatic-assessment-configuration/ We are immediately redirected to: 🚫 https://developer.apple.com/unauthorized/ This happens for all team members, including the Account Holder, so it doesn’t appear to be a role-specific permissions issue. The app is still in the proof-of-concept stage — there’s no App Store listing or App ID yet. We’re trying to confirm entitlement eligibility before proceeding further. Questions: Is an App Store listing or App ID required to access this request form? Are there any hidden prerequisites (account permissions, team roles, prior submissions, etc.) that need to be fulfilled? Has anyone here successfully submitted this form — and if so, what steps or conditions were required? Any guidance or shared experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I applied over a month ago and haven't heard back to the Apple Small Business Program. What should I do to speed things up?

We’re looking for best practices to remotely update iOS apps that are deployed in Single App Mode (SAM) or Autonomous Single App Mode (ASAM), managed through MDM. Imagine a typical use case: an iPad installed as a self-service kiosk at an airport restaurant. We need to update the app periodically without: Displaying any prompts to the user Relying on the user to approve or initiate the update (since the device is unattended) Sending technicians onsite, as many devices are in remote locations MDM providers have stated, “This is how Apple handles it,” without offering a workable solution. We’re hoping someone here has experience or suggestions for: Seamless or silent app updates in SAM/ASAM Update workflows that avoid interruptions or user interaction Any proven strategies or automation options under MDM supervision Any insight or documented approaches would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi I am trying to develop Apple MDM solution as a vendor. I got the Vendor certificate from apple developer portal. When I was trying to generate the csr and upload to Portal (https://identity.apple.com/pushcert/) It says Invalid Certificate Signing Request. I had also tried to follow documentation (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/setting-up-push-notifications-for-your-mdm-customers) but still the same error. Can anyone please guide how to generate the csr.

Hello, We are currently deploying Apple devices in our organization using Apple Business Manager (ABM) and are looking for a long-term self-hosted MDM solution. We initially considered MicroMDM, but since official support will end in December 2025, we are evaluating NanoMDM. I would like to confirm: Is NanoMDM a stable and production-ready option for long-term use with Apple Business Manager and Automated Device Enrollment (ADE)? Does NanoMDM support all essential features like: Supervision Remote wipe App deployment Configuration profiles Are there any limitations or known issues with using NanoMDM? Are there any other open-source or lightweight MDM solutions Apple developers recommend that are actively maintained? We are aiming for a reliable, secure, and future-proof self-hosted MDM setup. Any guidance or shared experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Vijay Pratap Singh

Hello! I’m testing certificate issuance using a locally running Smallstep step-ca ACME server with the device-attest-01 challenge. I’ve created a custom MDM profile for this purpose. When I install the profile, the certificate is issued successfully, but it is not saved to the Keychain as stated in the documentation. I can only see the certificate via mdmclient or in the Wi-Fi settings dropdown menu. Is this expected behavior, or are there additional settings that need to be included in the MDM profile?

I desperately need help with this issue. Are there any known issues regarding MDM profiles not installing on iPhone 17? Too many cases are being reported.

We are experiencing a critical issue where VPP app installations are consistently taking an excessive amount of time, leading to significant delays in asset association. We are deployionThis is a systemic problem that affects all VPP apps, not just an isolated case. Apps: 39470db7-e475-4269-9709-c80641657027 => com.zimride.instant d0876900-2579-463e-99f1-b7c85ef5c5e8 com.microsoft.azureauthenticator Troubleshooting: We have performed extensive troubleshooting and can confirm the following: VPP Token: The VPP token has been successfully renewed and is currently active and valid. License Availability: We've verified that there are sufficient VPP licenses available for the apps being deployed. Device Status: We've attempted the following on the affected devices: Restarted the devices. Switched to different Wi-Fi networks. Uninstalled and re-installed the apps. App Status: The issue is not limited to a single app; all VPP apps are failing to install. License Revocation: We attempted to revoke and reassign licenses for some devices, but this did not resolve the issue. The app was not pushed, and the pending status remained. Troubleshooting: Through our internal investigation, we have determined that the core issue is that the Asset Association Status is consistently taking excessive time. This seems to be preventing the app installation queue from processing. We have observed a significant delay in the processing of events within the Notification Channel. The time between the event being created and a response being received is excessively long, indicating a potential backlog or issue. We have included a few recent examples below for your reference: Event ID: 39470db7-e475-4269-9709-c80641657027 com.zimride.instant Created Time: 2025-08-26 01:02:04 Response Time: 2025-08-26 01:34:05 Event ID: d0876900-2579-463e-99f1-b7c85ef5c5e8 com.microsoft.azureauthenticator Created Time: 2025-08-25 21:16:29 Response Time: 2025-08-25 22:21:07 We would appreciate your help in the following areas: Resolution: Could you provide any known solutions or workarounds for an asset association status that is taking excessive amount of time'? Best Practices: Are there any recommended best practices or additional parameters we should be checking with the MDM that might influence the queueing of VPP app assignments? Queueing Parameters: Could you provide insight into the parameters or conditions that can affect the queueing and processing of VPP app installations on Apple's servers? Please let us know if there is any additional information or logs we can provide.

I tried the new feature of macOS 26.0 com.apple.configuration.app.managed. A configuration and its activation are defined with the data like this. InstallBehavior: Install: Required License: Assignment: Device iOSApp: true AppStoreID: '1113153706' After distributing the configuration with DeclarativeDevicement MDM command, an error is notified via status channel app.managed.list. "managed": { "list": [ { "state": "failed", "declaration-identifier": "1424a813-113f-5de0-9a75-38bf64f22673", "identifier": "com.microsoft.skype.teams", "name": "Microsoft Teams" } ] } What am I missing in the settings? Thank you

Our organization is deploying passwordless authentication. Instead of using a password, employees must use the Microsoft Authenticator app to complete the login process. Unfortunately, employees with passwordless authentication can't complete the login on the Wi-Fi Captive portal with SAML authentication. The reason is that when an employee switches to the Microsoft Authenticator app, the Apple CNA (Apple Network Captive Assistant) disappears. As a result, the authentication process breaks. According to the https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=q78sq5rv source, iOS 14+ devices support the RFC-8908 standard. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a reliable source on how this feature works on iOS devices. The question is: Is it possible to automatically forward Wi-Fi clients to the SAML authentication portal in the default browser app (for example, Safari) after connecting an employee to Wi-Fi?

Why don't obtain equipment list (https://mdmenrollment.apple.com/server/devices) interface returns "device_family" contour information. This interface only returns some fields, and many field values are not returned

I have created a jwt token with headers { 'typ': 'JWT', 'alg': 'RS256' } and claim as : { 'iss': dep server UUID from Accounts call, 'iat': epoc time in seconds, 'jti': random uuid, 'service_type': 'com.apple.maid' } And signed the token with private key created during DEP MDM server creation. On the device I see Verification error when tried to login with Managed Apple account. In ABM, Access management setting was set to Managed Devices /Supervised only. Any help would be appreciated.

Can I upload custom app onto the ABM? if yes then how can we install it into the user's devices?

Background / Objective We are currently developing a solution to centrally manage Apple OS updates (major and minor) across managed macOS devices. Before implementing at scale, we need Apple’s guidance on supported and future-proof update mechanisms under MDM. Questions / Ask (Apple Guidance Requested) Apple recommended method What is Apple’s recommended approach to perform: Minor updates (e.g., macOS X.Y → X.Z) Major upgrades (e.g., Ventura → Sonoma) in an enterprise fleet? Support boundary Is macOS update management only supported via MDM (including any newer declarative workflows), or are local mechanisms (installer + command-line tooling) also considered supported for enterprise automation? Use of startosinstall Can we leverage the existing utility: /Applications/Install macOS .app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall for automated upgrades in enterprise environments? If yes, are there recommended flags/workflows Apple endorses for unattended or minimally interactive upgrades? Long-term support / stability Does startosinstall have any form of long-term support / stability guarantees across future macOS releases? Are there any known deprecations planned (or guidance that customers should transition to MDM/DDM workflows)? MDM interaction / interference When using startosinstall, can MDM policies (software update deferrals/restrictions, update enforcement, etc.) interfere with or block the upgrade? If interference is expected, what is the correct supported way to coordinate: MDM software update settings local startosinstall execution to avoid failures and ensure compliance? What We Need From Apple (Desired Outcome) A clear statement of recommended and supported update workflow(s) for enterprise managed macOS: for minor updates for major upgrades Guidance on whether startosinstall is acceptable for long-term automation, or whether we should only use MDM/DDM-driven workflows. Any best practices or reference documentation Apple recommends for implementing this safely and reliably.

Dear Team, We are working on retrieving email address of the user joined to Entra ID from Entra-joined macOS devices, specifically while running in a system context.The sudo dscl . -read /Users/$(whoami) RecordName command give the local user name whose password is synced with the entra ID. We would greatly appreciate guidance on how to retrieve the Entra ID joined user’s email address in a system context from Entra Joined mac devices, especially from those with prior experience in this area. Thank you for your support.

During VPP app installation, the app-device asset association event took longer than the usual maximum of 30 seconds to complete, regardless of the number of app licenses involved.

We've disabled FUS through a config profile, but users can still access FUS by enabling the MenuBar/Control Center icons. My org would like to prevent access to FUS so I've created a config profile. But the profile doesn't seem to work. Anyone have any ideas what I'm missing, or is this an OS bug? <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>PayloadDisplayName</key> <string>macOS - Tahoe - Disable Fast User Switching Control Center</string> <key>PayloadIdentifier</key> <string>com.myorg.fast-user-switching</string> <key>PayloadType</key> <string>Configuration</string> <key>PayloadScope</key> <string>System</string> <key>PayloadUUID</key> <string>f1a2b3c4-d5e6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890</string> <key>PayloadVersion</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>TargetDevmyorgType</key> <integer>5</integer> <key>PayloadContent</key> <array> <dict> <key>PayloadType</key> <string>com.apple.controlcenter</string> <key>PayloadVersion</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>PayloadIdentifier</key> <string>com.apple.controlcenter.57EBEF9E-E568-411E-AE27-500AD98C94F4</string> <key>PayloadUUID</key> <string>f1a2b3c4-d5e6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890</string> <key>UserSwitcher</key> <integer>8</integer> </dict> <dict> <key>PayloadType</key> <string>.GlobalPreferences</string> <key>PayloadVersion</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>PayloadIdentifier</key> <string>.GlobalPreferences.71DE1486-60BC-4CB9-890D-AD50A772890D</string> <key>PayloadUUID</key> <string>c5234012-e0sw-2066-6fl8-3bd5p8125op7</string> <key>MultipleSessionEnabled</key> false/> </dict> </array> </dict> </plist>