Jamf After Dark: creativity with Jamf mobility

This episode of Jamf After Dark focuses on mobility — or how organizations can manage and secure their iPads and iPhones that are moving around and/or being used by a variety of users. This could be airline employees at the gate and above or below the wing; those in hospitality turning a room or checking people in; students in a classroom; or nurses or doctors involved in patient care. And each of these employees could be sharing their device with another. Keeping these devices secure and consistently up and running can present unique challenges.

Device sharing

Apple supports iPad sharing with tools like Shared iPad, allowing users to sign in with their Managed Apple IDs and federating with their identity providers (IdP). Using Jamf Setup, employees can share both iPads and iPhones and easily swap between users and roles as needed — with the device delivering the necessary experience based on the user’s attributes.

Jamf makes it easy to share devices securely by scoping components like apps and settings based on a user’s role. For example, a student could choose a device, select their grade and class, and get the information and tools they need to stay focused.

Jamf Setup can be downloaded on the App Store or be pushed with Apple’s Volume Purchasing Program (VPP).

Return to service

With Return to Service, devices can quickly be wiped and reconfigured for a seamless transition between users. All content will be erased from a device, retaining the language, region and Wi-Fi in most cases. Then, the device will be ready for the next user — all without anyone needing to reconfigure the device.

The Assigner app

This episode talks about the Assigner app, which builds on Jamf Setup’s capabilities. The Assigner app:

• Allows for two extension attributes to be customized
• Can tie a device to a building or department instead of a individual user
• Includes a design mode to customize icons, branding, buttons and more to be exported as an app config — no coding needed

Assigner is a custom part of Jamf Mobile Assist — contact us for more information. And listen to the episode to hear more details about Assigner and how it can be used in education!

Solving customer problems

Knox and Yuresko talk about some interesting use cases they’ve developed solutions for. This includes the healthcare space that runs lifesaving equipment that require timely logins and logouts; assigning devices to preschoolers (who can’t be expected to remember a password, for example); and identifying users who may not be able to press a button or doesn’t understand how to use a device.

Customers of all sizes and workflows can benefit from custom solutions. Some use cases Knox and Yuresko mention are:

• An executive wanting a Mac at a Windows-only company
• A large organization switching to Apple
• An oil rig company that can’t plug anything into their devices that are completely sealed in a case — but need to change the user

The group highlights that they are here to tackle “any and all” problems, whether its with IT, HR, the end user or someone else, noting that they will bring in whoever’s necessary to solve the problem, including third-party vendors. We will help and supply the tools for you to work out a solution with our API.

To find solutions for your problems, consider:

• Attending the Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC) or looking at previous JNUC presentations
• Checking out Jamf user groups or the Mac Admins Slack
• Reaching out to your customer success representative