We’ve got a bunch of iOS devices in our portal that haven’t been used in a long time. What’s the proper way to remove these inactive devices and free up licenses?
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Replies (3)
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Hexnode Expert
1 week ago
Apr 28, 2026
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Hi @sophia_miller! There are a couple of ways to handle this depending on how many devices you’re dealing with.
If it’s just a few devices, you can remove them individually:
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Go to the Manage tab.
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Select the device.
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Click Actions > Device Control > Disenroll.
For larger numbers, it’s easier to do this in bulk:
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Go to Reports > Built-in Reports > Inactive Devices.
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Select the devices you want to remove.
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Click Actions > Device Control > Disenroll.
Since these devices are inactive (offline), they won’t immediately free up licenses. They’ll move to a Pending Disenrollment state. To complete the process:
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Go to Reports > Built-in Reports > Disenrollment pending devices.
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Select those devices.
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Click Actions > Mark as Disenrolled.
Best Regards,
Isabel Lora
Hexnode UEM
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Participant
6 days ago
Apr 29, 2026
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Also just disenrolling from the inactive report isn’t enough. It still need to manually mark them as disenrolled to actually free the licenses?
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Hexnode Expert
6 days ago
Apr 29, 2026
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Exactly. Because the devices are offline, the system can’t confirm the disenrollment in real time. That’s why the extra step is required to finalize it and release the license.
Also, one important thing to keep in mind:
For iOS/iPadOS devices (iPhones and iPads), if the device is offline at the time of disenrollment, the command will remain pending until the device comes online. Until then, the device will continue to stay managed.
If the device does not come back online:
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For standard enrolled devices, performing a factory reset will remove the management profile from the device.
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For Automated Device Enrollment (Apple Business/DEP) devices, a factory reset alone is not sufficient. The device will automatically re-enroll into management during setup if it is still assigned in Apple Business.
To completely remove management for Apple Business devices, the device must first be unassigned from the MDM server in Apple Business, and then reset.
For other platforms, the behavior depends on the enrollment type and management mode.
Best Regards,
Isabel Lora
Hexnode UEM
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