Connecting a DEP Account (Automated Enrollment)
What are Automated Enrollments?
Automated Enrollments, known in Apple's documentation as Automated Device Enrollments (and historically as the Device Enrollment Program, DEP for short), are a core part of Apple Business and Apple School Manager and allow organizations to streamline the device setup process of newly purchased Apple devices. Using Automated Enrollments allows organizations to:
- Automatically enroll devices in SimpleMDM
- Enable Supervision
- Prevent users from unenrolling devices from SimpleMDM
- Customize available Setup Assistant panels
How to create Automated Enrollments in SimpleMDM
Automated Enrollments in SimpleMDM require you to establish a trust verification between SimpleMDM and Apple Business and/or Apple School Manager.
To set up an Automated Enrollment between SimpleMDM and Apple you will need to complete the following steps:
- Sign into your SimpleMDM account.
- Navigate to Devices > Enrollments.
- On the Enrollments page, click the "Add Enrollment" button.
- Select "Automated Enrollment (DEP)" from the dropdown list.
- Download the "DEP Public Key" linked in SimpleMDM.
- Sign into Apple Business or Apple School Manager.
- Note: If at all possible consider using a "shared" Managed Apple Account to sign in with at this step; this will ensure that the Automated Enrollment will continue working regardless of employee change overs.
- Select "Devices" from the top of page navigation options.
- In the left-hand sidebar select "Management Services" from the list.
- From Services > Device Management Services select "Add a Management Service" to create your new Automated Enrollment.
- Choose a meaningful Service Name and upload the token from SimpleMDM to Apple.
- Select Next, then download the Service Token generated by Apple.
- Go back to SimpleMDM select "choose file" and select the service token from Apple.
- Select Upload to create the new Automated Enrollment.
- This should take you to your new Automated Enrollment in SimpleMDM
You will need to assign devices to your new Automated Enrollment in Apple Business or Apple School Manager to utilize automated enrollments.
