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About Apple declarative device management

This feature might not be available for all customers yet.

Apple declarative device management (DDM) is Apple's modern protocol for mobile device management (MDM). It uses asynchronous communication between the device and a device management service, such as Sophos Mobile.

With classic MDM, Sophos Mobile controls individual settings on the device and retrieves the current device status at regular intervals.

In contrast, with DDM, you set a desired device status, and the device is responsible for reaching and maintaining that status. The device reports changes immediately and Sophos Mobile can respond without waiting for the next periodic synchronization.

For information about DDM policies in Sophos Mobile, see Configurations for iOS declarative policies and Configurations for macOS declarative policies.

For a general introduction to declarative device management, see Intro to declarative device management and Apple devices.