Supported Devices - Apple

This article discusses what Apple devices are supported in the District. Note that there is a separate article about what new Apple devices are approved for purchase.

Devices in use in the District

KPBSD is not an "Apple District" per se, but we nonetheless have well over a thousand Apple devices in District use, including:

iOS devices. Principally this means education-ready iPad tablets of several different generations, but also includes a number of iPad Minis, a few iPod Touch devices, and a few specialty devices such as iPhones or iPad Pro tablets. Only a couple of school locations (Nanwalek and Port Graham) currently issue iPads on a 1:1 basis; most schools instead use their devices in a "cart" mode, or deploy them for specialty uses one-at-a-time. In general the use of iPads is heavier at some schools than others, but most schools seem to have at least a few. Also, note that Special Services has iPads across the District as well, and these sometimes can overlap with school-purchased iPads, especially in the specialty roles.
macOS devices. There are two school locations in the District, Nanwalek and Port Graham, which continue to employ MacBook laptops for teachers and some students. There are also a few infrastructure and administrative Macs to support fleet management and the local caching of network-intensive software and app updates.
tvOS devices. There are a few Apple TVs under device management at Nanwalek and Port Graham locations, and there are also a few unmanaged Apple TV devices around the District that have been officially purchased by schools. Please note that we are happy to bring any Apple TV that is management-ready (see below), into management, to gain the benefits that come with that. Just contact the Helpdesk to arrange this.
Personal devices. It is worth mentioning that there are some personal devices out there that have been brought under management voluntarily, and this is certainly an option we can work through with you if you're interested. On a personal device, you can install a management profile that you can later remove; your device may be managed but not "supervised" like District devices are ("supervised" devices cannot remove their management profile). The advantages of management (e.g., configuration, resources like apps/books/profiles, sets of printers, etc.) might be of interest to you depending on how you use the personal device.

Device management

Mobile Device Management (MDM) for Apple devices in the District is provided by Jamf School; all our management-capable iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs are configured to automatically enroll in Jamf School upon every device reset and subsequent setup. The District's Apple fleet does still have some devices out there, however, that are not capable of taking management, and these devices will be considered unsupported after the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

The following, then, tries to make clear which devices are supported, and which are not.

iOS devices

Jamf School requires a minimum of iOS 13.x for its "minimum supported" version, but we have a number of devices running iOS 12.x that seem to run just fine, and we intend to support them at least through AY 2023-24--just be aware that these devices will age out within a few years' time. (Jamf moves its window of "full" and "minimum" support each year. We at KPBSD will balance coming fully into line with Jamf's recommendations over time, with a graceful culling of our oldest fleet members. For AY 2023-24, as we migrate fully to Jamf School, we are dropping support for iOS 11.x and prior; the iOS 12.x cut will follow that in a later AY, depending on how those devices perform in practice.

So, presuming your iOS device is running its latest-possible version of iOS (you should not be restricted from doing Software Update yourself, to bring it up to date), you can look either at the device's model designation, or its latest iOS, to determine support:

Supported. Devices that can run iOS 12.x or later, we will consider supported for AY 2023-24. These include:
- iPad 5th generation and above (can run current iOS)
- iPad Pro first generation and above (can run current iOS)
- iPad Air 1st generation (can run iOS 12.x)
- iPad Air 2nd generation (can run iOS 15.x)
- iPad Air 3rd generation (can run current iOS)
- iPad Mini 2nd and 3rd generation (can run iOS 12.x)
- iPad Mini 4th generation (can run iOS 15.x)
- iPad Mini 5th generation and above (can run current iOS)
Unsupported. Devices that cannot run iOS 12.x are no longer supported. These include:
- iPad generation 1, 2, 3, and 4.
- First-generation iPad Mini.

macOS devices

Jamf School officially requires a minimum of macOS 10.15 ("Catalina"), but we have seen Macs running as early as 10.13 ("High Sierra") enroll successfully, and in theory even Nanwalek's earliest MacBook devices (2014-2015 vintage) should be able to run macOS 12.x ("Monterey") if upgraded fully. So:

Supported. We would expect that any current District Mac is supported for management. Note that if your device is currently running 10.13 or newer, you should be able to reset the device and let it enroll in Jamf School under 10.13, and then perform in-place macOS upgrades (sometimes this is easier), or you could bring the device up to its latest macOS and then reset for MDM enrollment.
Unsupported. If you do have trouble or questions about support for a specific Mac, please contact the Helpdesk.

tvOS devices

Jamf School requires a minimum of tvOS 15.x for Apple TV devices to take management. According to this article:

Supported. All Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K device models can run tvOS 16.x, so any such devices should be supported. One quick visual "tell" that you have such a device is that your remote is the "Siri Remote", with the directional wheel and six buttons.
Unsupported. First, second, and third generation Apple TV devices (prior to the first HD model) are unable to run operating systems past tvOS 7.x, and thus are unsupported. Again, a quick visual "tell" for such a device should be that its remote is the first-gen Apple TV remote, with the directional wheel and just two buttons.

What do I do with unsupported equipment?

Unsupported devices should be surveyed off the school's books. If you are looking to replace the old device(s) with new ones, please see the overview of procurement for Apple devices.