What is Apple DEP?

The Apple Device Enrolment Program was developed by Apple to help businesses and educational institutions easily deploy iOS devices.

DEP was created to reduce the number of steps required before a newly purchased device is ready for use by the organization.

Should I Use DEP?

When the organisation or client has even one of these requirements, DEP is worth utilizing:

• Enrol devices with an MDM Platform
• Place devices in a Supervised mode
• Restrict devices from being able to un-enroll
• Hide particular screens and settings during the initial device setup process

This benefits Mobile Mentor in that it greatly reduces the number of ‘touches’ that need to be performed on each device.

DEP is great for non-technical employees in an organization.  As soon as they unbox their device and turn it on, it’s ready to go after a few screens. There’s no waiting for IT to configure the device, and, there’s less confusion during the setup process.

How Does DEP Work?

A DEP account is created with Apple. Once this account is created, devices are associated with the account by serial number.

When you pair the MDM program with a DEP account, the MDM program allows you to specify how your devices will be configured. These configurations, when saved, will be pushed to your DEP account on Apple servers.

When a registered DEP device is turned on for the first time, it contacts the Apple DEP servers and checks for a configuration. When it sees the configuration that you created, it applies it to the device