If your organisation is currently using Apple Deployment Programs, such as the Device Enrolment Program or Volume Purchase Program, you’ll need to upgrade to Apple School Manager.
Apple School Manager is a service that lets you buy content, configure automatic device enrolment in your mobile device management (MDM) solution and create accounts for your students and staff. Apple School Manager is accessible on the web and is designed for technology managers, IT administrators, staff and instructors.
Upgrade to Apple School Manager
To upgrade, log in to school.apple.com using your Apple Deployment Programs Agent account, then follow the onscreen instructions.*
After you’ve upgraded, Apple School Manager will have all of your:
- Accounts
- Account credentials
- MDM servers
- MDM devices
- Server tokens
- Device orders
- Other items associated with your account
After you’ve finished upgrading, use the Apple School Manager portal to access your data. You won’t have access to the Apple Deployment Programs website after you’ve upgraded.
Choose a domain for Managed Apple IDs
After you’ve upgraded to Apple School Manager, you’ll be asked to enter your school’s website. Apple School Manager uses the school website and will create a reserved domain as the default domain for your Managed Apple IDs. For example, if your website is www.myschool.edu, your Managed Apple IDs will look like student@myschooledu.appleid.com.
Your Apple School Manager admin can change the default domain after upgrading. Any domains that are added after enrolling must be verified before they can be used for Managed Apple IDs.
Invite Volume Purchase Program Purchasers to Apple School Manager
Your school may have one or more separate Volume Purchase Program accounts. If your school has these accounts, after you’ve upgraded to Apple School Manager, you must invite them separately from your users. Find out how to invite Volume Purchase Program Purchasers to Apple School Manager.
Changes to roles for Apple School Manager
Apple School Manager introduces some changes to the roles that you can assign to your users.
Agent is now Administrator
With Apple Deployment Programs, Agent was the highest level of administrative access. Agents had the ability to accept the Apple Deployment Programs Terms and Conditions on behalf of your organisation.
In Apple School Manager, this role is now called Administrator. Your organisation can have up to five Administrators in Apple School Manager.
Admins are now Managers
With Apple Deployment Programs, there were Admins for the Device Enrolment Program, Volume Purchase Program and Apple ID for Students. With Apple School Manager, Admins are now called Managers.
The type of Admin a user will be converted to depends on their responsibilities:
Role in Apple Deployment Programs |
Role in Apple School Manager |
Device Enrolment Program Admin |
Device Manager |
Volume Purchase Program Admin |
Content Manager |
Apple ID for Students Program Admin |
People Manager |
Any Apple Deployment Programs Admin that had the ability to create other Admins will become a People Manager in Apple School Manager.
A single user can have multiple roles in Apple School Manager. If your user was an Admin for more than one program, they’ll be assigned all roles that apply in Apple School Manager. The Administrator or Site Manager can add, remove or change Manager roles after you’ve upgraded.
Managed Apple IDs for all roles
When your previous Agent and Admins log in to Apple School Manager for the first time, their Apple IDs will be converted into Managed Apple IDs. If their accounts weren’t previously set up with two-factor authentication, they should set it up at that time.
Learn more
- Apple School Manager User Guide
- Apple Education Support
- IT and Deployment Resources
- Upgrade to Apple Business Manager
* To upgrade to Apple School Manager, you’ll need a Mac with Safari version 8 or later, or a PC with Microsoft Edge version 25.10 or later.