Configuring an iOS device in supervised mode without loss of data

The following procedure for creating a backup and restoring it later is not officially supported by Apple. For this reason, we recommend that you run it first in a test environment before you apply it to your company’s mobile phones.

Determine whether you need to create a manual backup

When you configure an iOS device in supervised mode, you reset it to factory-default settings. As a result, all apps and data stored on the device by the user are lost. To avoid this, you must use a backup and restore method that will vary based on the type of data stored and the backup software used:

  • iCloud: If the user uses Apple’s cloud storage service, it is very likely that you will not need to create any backups manually; in this case, their documents, photos, and other items are not stored on the mobile device but are automatically stored in the cloud. After the device has been formatted and placed in supervised mode, the user simply has to use their Apple ID to regain access to all their information.

To verify whether iCloud stores in the cloud all the types of data you want to recover after having enabled supervised mode, see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207428. If iCloud does not store all the types of data you want to keep, use the Finder app as explained in this article.

  • Finder: If the user does not use iCloud or wants to keep apps or types of data not supported by Apple’s cloud, you must create a backup of the mobile device by following a very specific protocol. This is required because Finder also stores the device state in the backup, so, when you restore the device data, you also restore the previous, non-supervised state of the device.

Finder does not store the settings of all the apps that exist on Apple Store. As a previous step, check whether the apps installed on the user’s device will require manual configuration after the restore process is performed.

Requirements for creating a backup using Finder

  • A macOS computer with the Catalina operating system or higher and the Finder app.

  • The user’s iPhone that you want to supervise.

  • A secondary iPhone with the same operating system version as the user’s iPhone.

  • A lightning to USB cable.

Creating and restoring the backup

Back up the user’s iPhone

  • On the user’s mobile phone, disable Find My iPhone:

    • Tap Settings.

    • Tap the user’s name. Tap Find My.

    • Tap Find My iPhone, then tap to disable it.

    • Enter the Apple ID password.

    • Tap Turn off.

  • Open the Finder app. Connect the user’s iPhone to the macOS computer.

  • If you are prompted to enter the device code or confirm that you trust the macOS computer, follow the on-screen instructions.

  • In the left panel of the Finder, click the user’s iPhone.

  • On the General tab, select Back up all the data on your iPhone to this Mac.

  • Click the Back Up Now button.

  • When the process is complete, make a note of the exact time the backup was created.

Restore the user’s iPhone backup to the secondary iPhone

  • Disable Find My iPhone on the secondary mobile phone:

    • Tap Settings.

    • Tap the phone name. Tap Find My.

    • Tap Find My iPhone, then tap to disable it.

    • Enter the Apple ID password.

    • Tap Turn off.

  • Disconnect the user’s iPhone and connect the secondary iPhone to the macOS computer.

  • If you are prompted to enter the device code or confirm that you trust the macOS computer, follow the on-screen instructions.

  • In the left panel of the Finder, click the secondary iPhone.

  • On the General tab, select Restore Backup.

  • Select the backup that you created earlier. You can identify the backup by its timestamp.

Back up the secondary iPhone

  • Verify that Find My iPhone is disabled on the secondary mobile phone. If it is not disabled:

    • Tap Settings.

    • Tap the phone name. Tap Find My.

    • Tap Find My iPhone, then tap to disable it.

    • Enter the Apple ID password.

    • Tap Turn off.

  • In the left panel of the Finder, click the secondary iPhone.

  • On the General tab, select Back up all the data on your iPhone to this Mac.

  • Click the Back Up Now button.

  • When the process is complete, make a note of the exact time the backup was created.

Restore the secondary iPhone backup to the user’s iPhone

  • Verify that Find My iPhone is disabled on the user’s mobile phone. If it is not disabled:

    • Tap Settings.

    • Tap the user’s name. Tap Find My.

    • Tap Find My iPhone, then tap to disable it.

    • Enter the Apple ID password.

    • Tap Turn off.

  • Disconnect the secondary iPhone and connect the user’s iPhone to the macOS computer.

  • If you are prompted to enter the device code or confirm that you trust the macOS computer, follow the on-screen instructions.

  • In the left panel of the Finder, click the user’s iPhone.

  • On the General tab, select Restore Backup.

  • Select the backup that you created earlier. You can identify the backup by its timestamp.

  • When the process is complete, a Hello screen is displayed on the user’s iPhone. At this point, it is very important that you do not perform any actions on the device and start the process to put it in supervised mode. See Configuring the device in supervised mode and enrolling it into the Cytomic MDM solution.