In Case of Emergency, Create an iPhone Medical ID
Apple Business Manager Is a Win for Apple-Driven Workplaces
Apple Business Manager Is a Win for Apple-Driven Workplaces
If you run a company, you know how much work onboarding a new employee can be. Beyond teaching them the ropes of your business, they’ll need a Mac and potentially an iPhone or iPad as well. Setting those devices up with all the right apps, settings, and logins can take days or even weeks. And that’s just for one person—imagine if you need to lather, rinse, and repeat for dozens or even hundreds of new employees?
The solution is Apple Business Manager, which ensures that every Apple device you purchase is associated with your corporate account—and in some cases, with a particular user—before it’s shipped to you. That enables zero-touch configuration and makes manual setup a thing of the past. Here’s how we make this happen.
We’ll work with someone at your company—your Business Contact—to set you up with two Apple programs: Apple Custom Store and Apple Business Manager. Your Business Contact will merely need to respond to some email messages from Apple and have a call with Apple to verify that they can agree to Apple’s Terms & Conditions on behalf of your company.
Apple Custom Store
The first program, Apple Custom Store, provides a customized corporate store for purchasing Apple devices. That’s important because all devices purchased through your Apple Custom Store are automatically tied to your company. In fact, they’re connected to your company until you intentionally release them while decommissioning, which can help protect against theft or employees keeping devices they shouldn’t.
Even more important, all new Mac purchases must go through the Apple Custom Store because there’s no easy way to add Macs purchased in any other way to Apple Business Manager.
Once you’re set up with an Apple Custom Store, we can suggest custom device configurations tailored to your company’s needs and even create templates for systems customized for different job roles. As a bonus, you’ll receive special “loyalty pricing” based on your annual purchase volume.
Apple Business Manager
The second program, Apple Business Manager, is what enables you to enroll and manage devices purchased through your Apple Custom Store. When we say “manage” we’re talking about mobile device management, or MDM. In essence, MDM systems allow IT administrators to define “profiles” that specify your company’s settings and policies. Those might be particular to a user, such as configuring email login credentials, or they might be general to everyone, such as security policies that require all iOS devices to use a six-digit passcode and Macs to turn on their screensavers after 2 minutes and require a password to unlock. And, of course, an MDM system lets your company control when to install operating system updates, ensuring that nothing happens before you’re ready.
You use Apple Business Manager to associate a new device purchased from your Apple Custom Store with the employee who will be receiving it. When the device arrives, the employee unboxes it and turns it on, and your MDM system goes to work downloading apps and configuring settings. Once the employee signs in with their credentials, the MDM system continues to configure the device for that person. No one from IT even has to touch it—hence “zero-touch” configuration.
Enrolling your devices in your MDM system via Apple Business Manager doesn’t just help with initial deployment. Employee turnover is a fact of life, and with a device in Apple Business Manager, you can use your MDM system to redeploy a device quickly by wiping it and re-enrolling it for the new employee.
We recommend that all Apple-using businesses purchase through an Apple Custom Store and use Apple Business Manager to tie those devices to the company’s MDM system. Contact us for more information about what’s involved, and for our MDM recommendations.
(Featured image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash)
More stuff you should read…
- Forrester Research and IBM Studies Show Macs Are Cheaper than PCs
- Macs Switching from Intel Chips to Apple Silicon: Answers to Your Questions
- Beware Scammers when Selling Your Old Tech Hardware Online
- New 16-inch MacBook Pro Sports a Redesigned Scissor-Switch Keyboard
- Apple Releases Redesigned Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR
More great tips from the archives…
- Two Secret Key Combos for Forward Delete on the Magic and MacBook Keyboards
- iCloud Photo Library Users: Do NOT Turn Off iCloud
- Ever Wondered Which Words to Capitalize in a Title? Use Capitalize My Title!
- Tips for Setting Up a Comfortable and Effective Home Work Space
- Tips for Better Videoconferencing
- Set Your Preferred Name and Photo for Messages on iOS
- The Fastest Way to Change Wi-Fi Networks in iOS
- What to Put at the End of Your Emails
- Apple Business Manager Is a Win for Apple-Driven Workplaces
Consider USB Peripherals When Troubleshooting Mac Problems
Consider USB Peripherals When Troubleshooting Mac Problems
If you’re experiencing a sporadic problem with your Mac, the sort of thing that happens often enough to be annoying but not so frequently as to be reproducible, allow us to suggest one little-known troubleshooting tip. Malfunctioning USB devices—keyboards, mice, hubs, printers, etc.—can sometimes cause truly inscrutable problems ranging from startup issues to kernel panics. USB-caused issues aren’t common, but when they do happen, they can be challenging to track down. If you’ve tried everything else, disconnect all unnecessary USB devices and, if possible, swap your wired keyboard and mouse for another set. Then see if the problem goes away.
(Featured image by Adam Engst)
Looking for more troubleshooting tips?
- How to Ask for Tech Support So You Get Good Answers Quickly
- Having Mac Troubles? Running Apple Diagnostics May Help Identify the Problem
- Troubles with Messages? Read On for Ten Possible Solutions
- iCloud Services Being Wonky? Check Apple’s System Status Page
Be Careful in iOS 13’s Mail App—the Trash Button Is Where Reply Used to Be!
Be Careful in iOS 13’s Mail App—the Trash Button Is Where Reply Used to Be!
For unknown reasons, Apple redesigned the toolbar in the iOS 13 version of Mail. Such things happen, but this time, Apple made a big mistake and moved Mail’s Trash button to where its Reply button used to be. Lots of people who have become accustomed to tapping Reply are now finding themselves deleting messages inadvertently, since a tap in the same location in iOS 13 deletes the message. It’s hard to retrain muscle memory—the ability to reproduce a particular movement without conscious thought—but if you find yourself deleting messages accidentally, you’ll need to slow down and remember to tap the new location of the Reply button.
(Featured image by Skitterphoto from Pexels)
More tips to make the most of your iOS devices.
- iPhone Not Charging Reliably? Clean Its Lightning Port with a Toothpick
- Did You Know You Can Drag the Scroll Bar in iOS 13?
- Some of Our Favorite Features of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13
- The Fastest Way to Change Wi-Fi Networks in iOS 13
- Everything you need to know about Multi-Tasking in iPadOS 13
Apple’s New AirPods Pro Offer Active Noise Cancellation and Better Fit
Apple’s New AirPods Pro Offer Active Noise Cancellation and Better Fit
Are you a fan of Apple’s AirPods, or have you had trouble with them staying in your ears? Either way, you might like the just-released AirPods Pro, which offer a new design with three sizes of soft, flexible, silicone ear tips and welcome new capabilities. The ear tips should make the AirPods Pro fit better for more people, and an Ear Tip Fit Test will tell you which size is right for your ears. The hot new feature is Active Noise Cancellation mode, which significantly cuts down on the background din of planes, trains, and automobiles. Alternatively, Transparency mode reduces surrounding noise while still letting you hear important announcements and stay aware of the environment around you. And, of course, Apple promises superior sound quality. The AirPods Pro cost $249 and come with a Wireless Charging Case.
(Featured image by Apple)
Other Apple Hardware Announcements
- Apple Updates 13-inch MacBook Pro with Magic Keyboard and Twice the Storage (May 2020)
- MacBook Air Update Features Magic Keyboard, iPad Pro Gets a Trackpad (March 2020)
- New 16-inch MacBook Pro Sports a Redesigned Scissor-Switch Keyboard (January 2020)
- Considering a New iMac? Wait No Longer‚ Updates Are Here! (March 2019)
- Apple Unveils New iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, and the Apple Watch Series 4 (September 2018)
Need to Charge Your iPhone or iPad More Quickly? Get a Higher Wattage Power Adapter
Need to Charge Your iPhone or iPad More Quickly? Get a Higher Wattage Power Adapter
By default, most iPhones and iPads ship with Apple’s tiny 5-watt power adapters. They work, but not quickly. However, the iPhone 8 and later, all models of the iPad Pro, and the most recent iPad Air and iPad mini models support fast charging when connected to higher wattage power adapters. You may have an older one of these around, or you can buy a new one. Apple has bundled with iOS devices or sold 10-watt, 12-watt ($19), and 18-watt ($29, USB-C) power adapters, and the company has also produced 29-watt, 30-watt ($49), 61-watt ($69), and 87-watt ($79) USB-C power adapters for Mac laptops. Plug your compatible iPhone or iPad into one of these chargers with an appropriate cable (for a USB-C charger, you’ll need a USB-C to Lightning Cable, $19), and it will charge significantly more quickly. Look for a wattage rating on the adapter itself, or multiply the output volts and amps together to get watts.
(Featured image by Matthew Henry on Unsplash)
Soooo many iOS tips….
Use the Driving ETA Feature in iOS 13’s Maps App to Share Your Arrival Time
Use the Driving ETA Feature in iOS 13’s Maps App to Share Your Arrival Time
A small but welcome new feature of iOS 13 is Driving ETA, which helps you share your estimated time of arrival with a contact whenever you’re navigating with the Maps app. To use Driving ETA, start navigating to a destination in Maps, tap Share ETA at the bottom of the screen, and pick the person with whom you want to share your location and arrival time. (You’ll share in Maps with iOS 13 users and via Messages with everyone else.) The other person will receive a notification of your ETA and if you’re delayed, updated times. You do have to start navigation in Maps to use Driving ETA, so it’s a little inconvenient when you already know the route, but it’s a brilliant feature for long-distance trips.
(Featured image by Dan Gold on Unsplash)
We’ve got tips and tips and tips…
- Set Your Preferred Name and Photo for Messages in iOS 13
- iCloud Photo Library Users: Do NOT Turn Off iCloud
- iPhone Not Charging Reliably? Clean Its Lightning Port with a Toothpick
- In Case of Emergency, Create an iPhone Medical ID
- Did You Know You Can Save and Share Voicemail Files from Your iPhone?
You Can Now Access Flash Drives on an iPhone or iPad—Here’s How
Data Backup Strategies Go Only So Far—What’s Your Plan If Your Mac Dies?
Want to Use Your Friends’ Nicknames in iOS? Here’s How
Want to Use Your Friends’ Nicknames in iOS? Here’s How
If you have a friend whom you refer to only by his nickname, it can be annoying to feel like you should use his proper first name when adding him to Contacts. Worse, then he shows up in Messages with a name you don’t recognize as easily. Here’s how to convince iOS to use his nickname instead. Open his card in Contacts, tap Edit, scroll to the bottom, tap Add Field, and tap Nickname. That puts a Nickname field at the top, under his proper name, for you to fill in. To get iOS to use it, go to Settings > Contacts > Short Name and enable Prefer Nicknames. From then on, you can enter your friend’s nickname instead of his proper name in apps like Messages and Mail, and iOS will also display it instead of his name everywhere.
Photo by JOSHUA COLEMAN on Unsplash
Moroe great iOS tips!
- New Organization and Editing in Photos in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13
- The iPhone 11 Camera App’s Shutter Button Works Differently: Here’s How
- Set Your Preferred Name and Photo for Messages in iOS 13
- iOS 13 Replaces 3D Touch with Tap-and-Hold
