Enrolling unmanaged, unsupervised iOS to Hexnode without losing data.Solved

@Glenn Sorry mate. I think if you restore app and datas from the iCloud of an unsupervised device to the same device it remain unsupervised.

@Glenn You can make device supervised and enroll in MDM without losing data. So hurray!! bad news: don’t remember how to do. But I think its veyr hard. So good luck with that!!

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for reaching out to us.

You can make the device managed and supervised without losing data but would require two devices that use the same Apple ID. Given below are the steps (a bit lengthy, I am afraid) to do the same:

1. Backup the device of your employee.
2. Take another iPhone and restore this backup. To do this, Go to Settings > General > Reset, then tap Erase All Content and Settings. Continue setting up the phone and select Restore from iCloud Backup when the page to backup Apps and Data appears. Once the restoration is completed, backup this device.
3. Reset the device of the employee back to factory settings. Go to Settings > General > Reset, then tap Erase All Content and Settings.
4. Now, you can supervise and enroll the device by using DEP or Apple Configurator 2. When selecting steps to skip at the time of setting up the phone, do not skip backup and restore and Apple ID and sign-in
5. Start setting up the employee’s phone. When you reach the page to backup Apps and Data, choose Restore from iCloud Backup. Make sure to restore from the backup that was created on the other device. Continue with the rest of the setup.
6. The device will automatically be supervised and managed by Hexnode once you finish setting up the phone.

Hope that helped.

Cheers!!
Deborah Timothy
Hexnode UEM

wAit.  I cannot restore a backup from same device because it is DEP enrolled?

@Easton No problem. I have done it.

Hi Easton,

Thanks for reaching out to us.

You will not face any difficulty in restoring a backup of a DEP enrolled device to the same device. The supervision state and MDM profile will be restored from the backup. The device will retain its supervision and MDM profile. @Glenn had to take the long way out because he had to supervise a device without losing data.

Cheers!!
Deborah Timothy
Hexnode UEM

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Deborah.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Deborah.

We are giving new iOS devices to our employees. These will be DEP enrolled to Hexnode. My employees prefer to have the data in their previous iphones in their new devices too. The previous devices were all supervised. Is it possible to get their data to the new devices?

Hello Drew,

Thank you for reaching out to us. You can select the option Restore from iCloud Backup while setting up the phone. Since the previous devices were supervised, the new devices will also be supervised and enrolled to Hexnode without any issues.

Cheers!!
Deborah Timothy
Hexnode UEM

Used that Restore option while setting up a phone and it got enrolled to hexnode. But the apps I installed through Hexnode including the Hexnode app is appearing greyed out. When I click on it, I get a message ‘unable to install hexnode mdm. This app needs to be reinstalled from your orgs device management app’. Not really keen on installing all the apps manually on all these devices, so is there any other way?

While we use iCloud to back up the device data, it stores the apps on the App Store server and the personal app data on the iCloud backup itself. Hence, during Restore, these apps get automatically re-downloaded from App Store.

However, the device fails to restore apps from the backup successfully if there are issues with iCloud or when the apps are no longer available on the App Store. It can also happen with any third-party apps or apps downloaded away from the App Store.

Here are a few things you can try out to re-install such apps on the devices:

1. Make sure you have a stable Wi-Fi connection.
2. Restart the device.
3. Delete all the apps that are facing this issue and re-install them again. Since the devices are enrolled, you can use Hexnode to push these apps. (To re-install the Hexnode app, go to the device details page in the portal and click on the refresh icon next to the MDM app installed under Device Summary).

Regards,

Catherine George
Hexnode UEM