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Add devices manually to Apple Business Manager

You can manually add an iPhone or iPad to Apple Business Manager. For example, use this if you haven’t purchased the device directly from Apple or an Apple authorized reseller.

You can’t manually add a Mac to Apple Business Manager.

Warning

When you manually add a device to Apple Business Manager, it’s reset to its factory settings.

Do as follows:

  1. Connect the device to a USB port of a Mac with Apple Configurator 2.5 or later installed.
  2. In Apple Configurator, go to File > New Profile > Wi-Fi to create a network profile for your Wi-Fi connection.

    The device requires this profile to connect to the Apple Apple Business Manager registration server.

  3. Go to Preferences > Organization and click the Plus button to create an organization entry.

    Enter your organization’s Apple ID for Apple Business Manager. Also, select to generate a new supervision identity.

  4. Go to Preferences > Servers and click the Plus button to create a server entry.

    You may enter any value in Enrollment URL. Apple Configurator doesn’t use the value when registering an Apple Business Manager device.

  5. Select the device and then select Prepare.

  6. Select Manual Configuration and then do as follows to prepare the device:

    1. Select the server and the network profile you created earlier.
    2. Skip the configuration of the iOS setup assistant. You configure this in Sophos Mobile under Apple DEP profiles.
  7. Wait until Apple Configurator has completed the preparation procedure. Don’t turn off the device at this stage.

When the device is registered, you can select it in Apple Business Manager by its serial number.

For more information on adding devices with Apple Configurator 2, see Apple Configurator 2 User Guide: Prepare an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV manually in Apple Configurator 2.