What are Managed Apple IDs in Apple School Manager?
Like any Apple ID, Managed Apple IDs provide students and teachers with access to Apple services and the ability to personalize their devices. They’re also used to access Apple services—including iCloud, the Schoolwork app, and collaboration with iWork and Notes. And administrators and staff use them to sign in to Apple School Manager. Unlike personal Apple IDs, Managed Apple IDs are owned and managed by your school or district and are designed to meet the needs and legal requirements of education institutions—including password resets, limitations on purchasing and communications, and role-based administration. Apple School Manager makes it easy for schools to create and manage these accounts at scale. Managed Apple IDs don’t support Family Sharing.
Many states and regions have laws that require schools to protect student data and restrict the ways in which it can be used. Managed Apple IDs are designed to help K–12 schools (or equivalent) comply with student data privacy requirements. See Privacy and Security for Apple Products in Education.
Important: A user with a Managed Apple ID can lock themselves out of their account if they enter an incorrect password more than 10 times. To reset their password, the user must contact an Apple School Manager administrator, Site Manager, People Manager, or another user with password reset privileges.
Managed Apple ID features for students and teachers
Managed Apple IDs provide access to the following key iCloud services for education.
Feature | Description |
|---|---|
iCloud storage | Managed Apple IDs receive 200GB of free iCloud storage. |
iCloud Services |
|
iCloud Drive Folder Sharing | Students and teachers can share files and folders in iCloud Drive. By default sharing is limited to participants in the same organization, but sharing outside the organization can optionally be enabled in Apple School Manager. |
iWork collaboration | Students and teachers in the same organization can collaborate with Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Reminders, and Notes. By default sharing is limited to participants in the same organization, but sharing outside the organization can optionally be enabled in Apple School Manager. |
Schoolwork | Class rosters created in Apple School Manager are automatically available in Schoolwork. Student progress reporting can optionally be enabled in Apple School Manager. |
Classroom | Class rosters created in Apple School Manager are automatically available in Classroom. |
Institutional password reset | Using the Classroom app, teachers can reset students’ Managed Apple ID passwords without involving their IT department. |
FaceTime and iMessage | FaceTime and iMessage are disabled by default but can optionally be enabled in Apple School Manager by role. |
Service access with Managed Apple IDs
Because Managed Apple IDs are for education purposes only, certain features are disabled to protect the personal information of students and teachers.
Note: Not all of these services are available in all countries or regions.
Services | Platform | Description |
|---|---|---|
Apple Pay | iOS iPadOS macOS | The user can’t use it. |
Specific iCloud features | iOS iPadOS macOS Web | The user can’t access the following services:
|
App Store iTunes Store Apple Books | iOS iPadOS macOS | Allows browsing but not purchasing, paid, or free. |
Media services | iOS iPadOS macOS Web | The user can’t access the following services:
|
Find My | iOS iPadOS macOS Web | The app appears, but the user can’t use it. |
Sidecar | macOS | The user can’t use it. |
Home | iOS iPadOS macOS | The user can’t add HomeKit devices to the Home app. |
Education and Enterprise services and programs | Web | Accounts with the role of Student can’t use the following:
|
How Managed Apple IDs are created
Managed Apple IDs are created after you:
Import accounts from your Student Information System (SIS)
Import .csv files using the Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
Use federated authentication with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
Use SCIM with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
Create accounts manually
Important: Keep in mind that every Managed Apple ID must be unique. It also can’t be the same as other Apple IDs that your staff, instructors, and students may already have.
How Managed Apple IDs are used
As an administrator or manager, you use Managed Apple IDs in three main ways—with accounts, roles, and classes.
Accounts: Administrators can complete a range of tasks within Apple School Manager to manage accounts. For example, you can assign roles or reset passwords for a specific set of users.
Roles: After a Managed Apple ID is created for a user, the administrator can then assign roles for the user. These roles include manager, instructor, staff, and student. These roles define which tasks users can perform in Apple School Manager with their Managed Apple ID.
Classes: A class is a collection of instructor and student accounts. Classes have at least one instructor added when the class is created. After a class is created, it’s used with your mobile device management (MDM) solution to enable classes to appear in the Classroom app for iPad and Shared iPad, and to simplify the experience for students using Shared iPad.
In addition, the administrator and manager can manually add an account at any time, such as when a temporary instructor is added to your school. You can also view and edit account information, such as the user’s name, ID number, grade level, and more. Depending on your role, you can also reset a user’s Managed Apple ID password, send them a verification code so they can sign in, and deactivate or restore an account.