Introduction to Apple platform deployment
Whether your organization has ten devices or ten thousand, Apple deployments fit easily into your existing infrastructure. From a myriad of deployment options, you can select the right one to meet the needs of your organization. You can also link Apple School Manager or Apple Business Manager and your chosen third-party mobile device management (MDM) solution. If you’re using Apple Business Essentials, you can also use the device management that’s built right in.
For example, if you want to help protect organizational information and at the same time maintain privacy for individuals who choose to use their personal devices, choose User Enrollment. Or if you want to maintain a higher level of control on organization-owned devices, choose supervision and Device Enrollment or account-driven Device Enrollment. Or if you want to automate the setup process of your devices, you can use Automated Device Enrollment. In that case, every iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro is ready to go from the start, configured exactly the way you want.
Using Apple School Manager, Apple Business Manager, or Apple Business Essentials, you can also easily buy and distribute apps and books—all from one place. You can also integrate with identity providers (IdPs), Google Workspace, or Microsoft Entra ID.
Apple Platform Deployment is designed to cover every aspect of the deployment of Apple hardware, operating systems, apps, and services and is organized into the following areas:
What’s new: View a summary of new security- and management-related features in Apple operating systems, services, and apps. It also describes updates to the Apple MDM framework.
Plan the deployment: Learn about MDM, how to select an MDM vendor that meets your needs, how different deployment models and enrollment types provide flexibility for organizations in their deployments, and how to use Apple School Manager, Apple Business Manager, or Apple Business Essentials to automatically add purchased devices from a participating Apple Authorized Reseller or cellular carrier.
Prepare your environment: Optimize your network, learn about deployments over cellular networks, and configure Mac computers to cache content for all Apple devices so that content downloads minimize bandwidth consumption.
Use identity services: Take advantage of the default integration of Kerberos into Apple software and the best methods to connect identity providers through federation—all for seamless, consistent logins for users.
Deploy devices with a Managed Apple Account: Using Apple School Manager, Apple Business Manager, or Apple Business Essentials, you can create Managed Apple Accounts. Managed Apple Accounts are owned and managed by your organization and used to sign in to devices and use supported Apple services, including iCloud on the web.
Review the setup process and configuration profile options: Decide how the setup process appears to your users and learn what management and restrictions can be placed on devices.
Manage software updates: Control how operating system updates are provided to Apple devices.
Distribute content: Learn how apps and books can be easily distributed to devices and users in a variety of ways and how to manage the login items and background tasks on Mac computers.
Integrate with networks: Review specific Wi-Fi specifications for Apple hardware, and select the best content filter process for your organization.
Ensure device security: Learn how to lock, locate, and erase lost or stolen Apple devices, manage the deployment and updates to certificates, and set up and configure FileVault for Mac computers.
MDM settings: Review complete lists of MDM and declarative device management payloads, restrictions, commands, and queries, and identify which of those work with each hardware type or operating system version.
Additional resources: Join AppleSeed for IT, get additional AppleCare coverage, take advantage of professional services, or locate an Apple consultant to help with your deployment.