Device Action: Refresh Inventory
The Refresh Inventory action requests updated device information, installed app lists, installed profiles, certificates, and security details from a device. SimpleMDM automatically refreshes inventory once per hour when devices are online, but this action allows admins to trigger an immediate refresh on demand.
Supported platforms
The Refresh Inventory action is available for all enrolled devices, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and visionOS.
How to refresh inventory
- In SimpleMDM, navigate to the device's Device Details page.
- Click the "Actions" menu.
- Select "Refresh Inventory".
- Confirm the action when prompted.
A request for updated inventory will be sent to the device. If the device is offline, the request will be fulfilled once it comes back online.
What information is collected
When a refresh is triggered, SimpleMDM sends a series of queries to the device to collect current information. The data returned depends on the device's platform and capabilities:
- Device information: Device name, OS version, serial number, available storage, battery level, and other hardware and software details.
- Installed profiles: A list of all configuration profiles currently installed on the device. SimpleMDM uses this to detect profile drift between what is assigned and what is actually installed.
- Security information: Security-related details such as FileVault recovery keys and firewall settings (macOS), firmware password status, and recovery lock status.
- Certificates: Installed managed certificates and their expiration dates.
- Installed applications: App names, versions, bundle identifiers, and sizes. Available for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, visionOS, and macOS devices enrolled via device enrollment.
- Managed application status: Management state for apps installed via MDM, including whether each app is managed or unmanaged.
- Managed media: Installed books and media (iOS/iPadOS only).
- User accounts: User account information on supported devices (Shared iPad, macOS enrolled via device enrollment).
Rate limiting
Manual inventory refreshes are rate limited on a per-account basis to prevent excessive queries. The limit is based on the number of devices in the account, calculated over a 24-hour sliding window. If the limit is exceeded, SimpleMDM will display a message indicating how long to wait before the next refresh can be sent.
Automatic hourly refreshes are not affected by this limit.
Notes
- Inventory refreshes happen automatically once per hour when devices are online. Manual refreshes are only needed when you require up-to-date information immediately.
- The device must be online to respond to the refresh request. If offline, the queries will be queued and processed the next time the device checks in.
- The amount of data returned varies by platform. For example, battery level is only reported for iOS/iPadOS devices, and managed media is only available on iOS/iPadOS.
- Refreshes are also triggered when relevant changes are applied to devices via MDM. For example, if an app is pushed to a device, an installed application inventory refresh occurs automatically as part of that flow. Additionally, inventory is updated via declarative device management status reports, which do not require explicit polling. For this reason, frequent refreshes should not be necessary.
