Use Apple Configurator on iOS to add device to Apple Business Manager/ School Manager without a mac

For a long time, the only way to manually add a device to Apple Business Manager (ABM) or Apple School Manager (ASM) was to physically connect the device to a mac. This was because the application used for this, Apple Configurator 2 was only available on a mac. This was the case for a long time but in 2021 we got a new way of doing this that does not require a mac or physically plugging it in. Though you still need physical access and a iPhone to do the process. I don’t see a lot of people talking about this feature so I wanted to create a quick article on it and also showcase how it look and work in 2023/2024.

Apple’s official documentation can be found here:
https://support.apple.com/en-ph/guide/apple-configurator/apd97373af1e/ios

Add an iPhone or iPad using Apple Configurator for iPhone

First we need to make sure that we have Apple Configurator installed on our device that we want to use to add any new device to ABM / ASM.

Apple Configurator for iOS can easily be found in the App store, and if you want to manually install it or install it with an MDM solution like Intune on your device is up to you and both scenarios work just fine.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apple-configurator/id1588794674

Device where you have Apple Configurator Installed

On the actual devices that you have installed Apple Configurator on (This is not the device that will be added but the device that will perform the registration) Video below shows the process for that device.

In the Apple Configurator app you have the option to predefine what Wifi the device should connect to (it will share the credentials) you can also specify which MDM server in ABM / ASM if any the device you add should be assigned to.

Device that gets added to ABM

On the devie that you want to register, you need to start a make sure its in the out-of-box-experience.
My recommendation is unless its a brand new device you should perform a factory reset of the device.
Then once you are at the start screen, dont move to quickly through the menus because you might go to far and reach the Wifi section and if you do you might not see the page that you should scan to register the device.

Here’s the look for an iPhone 13 Pro

Here’s a video of the process on the same device.

And here is a video of an iPad being registered.

Once the device has gone through the process to be added and registered it performs a factory reset on the device. In ABM and ASM you need to now go in and assign the device to the correct MDM solution as you would do for any other new device. If you are using Intune it will sync and show up in the list of registered devices as normal.

Take aways and learnings during the process

One thing that i learned in this process was that you can’t go pass certain points in the out-of-box-experience on the device you want to add prior to trying to add the device in to ABM / ASM. If you reach the point where you should connect to a WiFi the device wont show the screen that you are supposed to scan to start the registration process.

Once you get a hang of the process and how and when it does not work it was pretty seamless and worked pretty much every time. I’ve probably removed and added different devices 30 times in this testing.

In the end I’m pretty happy with the process. The need for an mac to register devices are no longer there but there are still other situations when a mac comes in handy. Apple Configurator 2 on an mac has way more options and capabilities than Apple Configurator on iOS.

That’s it for this time, Don’t forget to follow me on X (twitter) @timmyitdotcom or connect with me on LinkedIn