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Can Hexnode force iOS Location Services, Bluetooth, and encryption compliance remotely?

Can Hexnode force iOS Location Services, Bluetooth, and encryption compliance remotely?Solved

Participant

9 hours ago

We’re testing supervised iPads in Hexnode for a kiosk-style deployment and trying to understand what can actually be controlled remotely.

The goals are:

Enable Location Services for the Hexnode UEM app and stop users from turning it off.
Disable Bluetooth and stop users from turning it back on.
Keep some kiosk iPads compliant without requiring a passcode.

What I’m seeing is a bit confusing. If I manually enable Location Services, the toggle becomes greyed out afterward, so the restriction seems to be working. But Bluetooth was already on before the restriction applied, and now it is greyed out in the on state. Also, the iPad reports as not encrypted/non-compliant even though it is a new iPad.

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Marked SolutionPending Review

mary_romero

Hexnode Expert

57 minutes ago

Marked SolutionPending Review

On iOS and iPadOS, MDM solutions cannot remotely toggle certain core privacy and connectivity settings such as Location Services and Bluetooth.

For Location Services:

Hexnode cannot silently turn on Location Services remotely on an iPad.
The user or IT admin must enable Location Services manually on the device first.
After Location Services is enabled and the required app permission is granted, you can use restrictions to prevent users from changing it.
If the Location Services toggle is greyed out after you enabled it manually, the restriction is working as expected.

For Bluetooth:

Hexnode cannot remotely turn Bluetooth off on iOS/iPadOS.
The restriction only prevents the user from modifying the Bluetooth setting.
It locks Bluetooth in whatever state it was in when the restriction took effect.

So, if Bluetooth was on before the policy applied, it will remain locked on. To lock it off, Bluetooth must be manually turned off first, and then the restriction can be applied.

This behavior is due to Apple’s privacy and user-control model. Apple does not allow any MDM provider to silently enable Location Services or toggle Bluetooth over the air.

Regards,
Mary Romero

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Can Hexnode force iOS Location Services, Bluetooth, and encryption compliance remotely?Solved

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