[Ron Participant 31 March 2022 Ron Participant]

Apple Configurator is your best bet. I have been using it for a while now. If you are new to creating configuration profiles, checkout this guide on how to use Apple Configurator 2.

[Gianna Participant 31 March 2022 Gianna Participant]

It is an accessible tool to create and edit configuration profiles as well as deploy them. However, you need to have a wired connection between a mac with Apple configurator installed and the target device to deploy the profile. Not practical for IT admins with large fleets of devices.

[Ron Participant 31 March 2022 Ron Participant]

It is perfect for smaller businesses with a handful of devices. However, I suggest you use it with an MDM for the extended functionality of deploying profiles in bulk and monitoring the progress on the device end.

[Raul Participant 31 March 2022 Raul Participant]

Sure, I do use Apple Configurator and it is my go-to right now, but I would like to familiarize myself with other options. Also, I would love to know more about the user experience you guys might have with other tools.

[Maverick Participant 31 March 2022 Maverick Participant]

There are several proprietary as well as free options you could choose from. I use iMazing. Its UI is cleaner and feels approachable. In addition, their setup guides are pretty straightforward.
https://imazing.com/guides/how-to-create-or-edit-apple-configuration-profiles
I used it to configure a third-party VPN, which saved me a bunch of time.

[abbi Participant 31 March 2022 abbi Participant]

IMazing is a stellar tool! I have used three profile editors in the past, Apple Configurator, iMazing and ProfileCreator. All three have been solid. However, I particularly like ProfileCreator as it is a community-built project.

ProfileCreator is free to download from GitHub, though it has had fewer updates since then and has become a bit buggy. Nevertheless, it was a lifesaver for mac admins everywhere as it supported third-party apps quicker than Apple, albeit with some caveats. Both iMazing and ProfileCreator are powered by the ProfilePayloads framework maintained by the ProfileManifests repo, which supplies both with new third-party apps’ keys for config profiles.

Here are the GitHub repos for open-source enthusiasts!
https://github.com/ProfileCreator
https://github.com/ProfileCreator/ProfileManifests

[Maverick Participant 31 March 2022 Maverick Participant]

Yes! I remember ProfileCreator GitHub community being quite active… how would you stack these three against each other in terms of usability?

[abbi Participant 31 March 2022 abbi Participant]

I am not an expert… I will give you my thoughts,

Apple Configurator 
Pros: Supported by Apple, they have resources to support Enterprise and Educational institutions with ABM and ASM. For straightforward deployments for a few devices, recommended. No need to connect to Wi-Fi to prepare devices for configuration.

Cons: User experience can be long-winded. It does not support configuring macs (I think they began support from Monterey in T2 chipped Intel macs and newer Apple silicon macs). Apple can limit the availability of payloads at times since they don’t support newer payloads until they are bug free.

IMazing 
It uses the same communication channels as Apple configurator, but offers a different workflow and several additional features like:

• Configs and automations are applied as blueprints, not directly
• Blueprints are divided into sections; inline editing tools allow quick iterations for new configs.
• Regular updates, support for third party apps.

Also has some notable exclusives:

• Can handle devices which already have data without erasing them; no need to wipe devices.
• Override app defaults in configuration.
• Can supervise and configure devices from Windows PC, so you don’t need a mac to configure devices.

I am missing a lot of details! Here is my source: https://imazing.com/guides/configurator-overview
It also allows you to configure macOS, iOS and tvOS, payloads arranged separately in UI, you can configure payloads that support all devices or each device individually.

ProfileCreator

• As mentioned, not as frequently updated, can be buggy.
• Has an option to automatically remove profiles.
• UI is comparable to iMazing, user friendly.
• Limited payload support.

I’d have to say iMazing is a better version of ProfileCreator. They use the same ProfileManifest framework as base. Profile Creator needs to catch up on in terms of updates, so iMazing would be the worthy alternative to Apple configurator.