kioskpe ← MDM setup

MDM setup · Apple

Apple Business and Apple Configurator

Apple Business is where your devices and licenses live, whatever MDM you use. Apple Configurator supervises and locks down iPads over a cable, which is all a handful of kiosks need.

Labels match Apple Business and Apple Configurator 2.20 as of September 2026. Apple Business is the new name for Apple Business Manager.

1. Sign up

Go to business.apple.com and choose Sign up now. You'll enter your organization's details and verify it two ways, such as a D-U-N-S number or EIN plus a DNS record. Verification takes up to five business days and must finish within 60 days of signing up.

2. Add your iPads

Devices bought from Apple or a participating reseller with your Organization ID show up in Devices on their own. For anything else, use Apple Configurator for iPhone.

  1. Install Apple Configurator on an iPhone running iOS 16 or later. Sign in with a Managed Apple Account that can manage devices.
  2. Turn on the iPad (iPadOS 16 or later, erased) and step through Setup Assistant until Choose a Wi-Fi Network.
  3. Hold the iPhone near it. Frame the image the iPad shows, or tap Pair Manually and type the six-digit code. The iPad's serial number uploads to Apple Business.
  4. When it finishes, tap Erase and Shut Down on the iPad. In Apple Business it now appears under Devices›Inventory in the Apple Configurator group; assign it to your MDM with Assign Device Management. It enrolls the next time it's set up.

Devices added this way carry a 30-day provisional period during which someone can remove them from Apple Business, supervision, and the MDM in Settings. After that they're locked in like devices bought through Apple.

3. Buy Kioskope licenses

Apps & Services›Apps and Books›App Store›View Store. Search Kioskope, pick the organizational unit, enter the number of devices, Buy. A payment method must be on file first, and the role you're signed in with needs permission to get licenses for apps and books.

Licenses are assigned per device by your MDM, or by Apple Configurator for Mac. No Apple Account is needed on the iPad.

4. Link your MDM

  1. Devices›Management Services, connect an external device management service. Name it, upload your MDM's public key certificate, and Download Service Token. Upload that token in your MDM.
  2. Settings›Payments & Billing›Apps & Books›Download to get the content token for the organizational unit holding your licenses. Upload it in your MDM too.
  3. Under Devices›Management Services›Default Device Assignment, send new iPads to your MDM automatically.

Both tokens expire after a year. Kioskope's configuration keys are the same in every MDM, and MDMs that support the AppConfig standard can import the Kioskope spec to get a settings form. The Intune guide walks through one MDM end to end.

Apple Configurator for Mac, no MDM

For a few iPads that stay in the building. You need a Mac on macOS 15.7 or later with Apple Configurator 2.20 from the Mac App Store, a USB cable, and a Managed Apple Account with permission to get apps and books.

Configurator installs apps and profiles, but managed app configuration is an MDM feature, so Kioskope's settings are entered on the first device and cloned by QR code.

Supervise

  1. Start from an erased iPad at the Hello screen. Connect it and tap Trust on the iPad.
  2. Select it and choose Actions›Prepare. Pick Manual configuration and check Supervise devices. Check Add to Apple School Manager or Apple Business only if you want it in Apple Business.
  3. For device management choose Do not enroll in Device Management, or your MDM if you have one.
  4. Skip the Managed Apple Account sign-in unless you're adding to Apple Business, then choose or create your organization. Configurator creates a supervision identity for it, so keep this Mac around.
  5. Choose which Setup Assistant panes to show, then Prepare. Preparing erases the device; don't let the Mac sleep until it's done.

Install Kioskope

  1. Account›Sign In with the Managed Apple Account, enter the verification code, and pick your organizational unit.
  2. Select the iPad, then Add›Apps. Choose Kioskope (the number beside it is licenses left) and click Add Apps.

For one or two devices you can instead buy Kioskope on the iPad's own App Store, at the cost of leaving an Apple Account signed in.

Configure and clone

  1. Open Kioskope on the first iPad, enter your web app's URL and an admin PIN, and tap Start. Tune everything else behind the gear.
  2. In the gear menu choose Export as QR.
  3. On each next iPad, enter the URL, open the gear, and choose Import from QR. Point the camera at the first iPad.

Lock it down

Single App Mode. Select the iPad and choose Actions›Advanced›Start Single App Mode, pick Kioskope, set any Options, and apply. The iPad reopens Kioskope after every restart. Release it from the same Mac with Actions›Advanced›Stop Single App Mode.

Autonomous Single App Mode. Download the Kioskope restrictions profile, drop it on the iPad in Configurator or use Add›Profiles, then in Kioskope's gear menu turn on Single App Mode (supervised). Kioskope pins itself and stays pinned across restarts; turn the switch off, behind the PIN, to release it.