Deploy DEP devices

Perform this procedure to connect your devices to Apple DEP and to enroll them with Sophos Mobile.

You can manage devices that you have purchased from Apple or from an approved DEP vendor. Before you can connect devices to Apple DEP, you need to configure the device vendor in the Apple DEP portal.
Note In a typical DEP workflow, you perform this procedure before handing over the devices to your users for activation and usage.
Note For a detailed description of the Apple DEP portal, see the Apple Deployment Programs online help.

To assign your devices to Sophos Mobile and to assign a DEP profile to them:

  1. Open the web portal for the Apple deployment programs at https://deploy.apple.com in your web browser and then log in with your company Apple ID.
  2. In the portal, go to Device Enrollment Program > Manage Devices.
  3. Under Choose Devices By, select your new devices by serial number, by order number, or upload a CSV file containing the serial numbers of your devices.
    Note If you have purchased your devices from a reseller, they are available in the DEP portal within 24 hours after the reseller posts your order to Apple.
  4. Under Choose Action, select Assign to Server and then select the virtual MDM server that you have set up for Sophos Mobile as described in Set up Apple DEP.
  5. Click OK to perform the assignment.
    At this point, you may log out from the Apple DEP web portal.

You may skip the remaining steps if you have configured a default DEP profile as described in Create DEP profile.

  1. Log in to Sophos Mobile Admin with an administrator account for the customer for which you want to manage the DEP devices.
  2. On the menu sidebar, under MANAGE, click Devices and then click Apple DEP.
    The Apple DEP devices page lists all devices that you have assigned to Sophos Mobile in the Apple DEP web portal.
  3. If the devices that you just assigned to Sophos Mobile do not appear in the list, click Synchronize with Apple DEP portal.
    Note To limit the load on the Apple DEP server, repeated synchronization is possible only after a short queue time.
  4. Select the new devices and then click Actions > Assign profile.
  5. In the confirmation dialog, select the DEP profile you want to assign to the devices and then click OK.

When the purchased devices arrive at your company, you can hand them over to your users. No further configuration is required. When the users switch on their devices for the first time, the iOS setup and the enrollment with Sophos Mobile are performed as configured in the assigned DEP profile.

If you have selected the Assign user to device profile option as described in Create DEP profile, the users are automatically assigned to their device.