Powerful Management Options
November 04, 2020
Powerful Management Options

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with iOS
We deploy iOS devices by the hundred[s] across dozens of schools, mostly for student use, but occasionally for instructor use. We also use a few devices internally, not only for testing, but for their myriad other uses: from using a scanner app to archive contracts, to network scanning tools to help diagnose connectivity issues.
- iOS is easy for users to get started with, and many people are already familiar with it.
- iOS is easily managed when purchased through Apple and managed via School/Business Manager.
- iOS is a relatively secure platform with many options for protecting personal and organizational data.
- Some of the security features can get in the way of organizational management, requiring careful consideration of the configuration.
- There are a lot of design choices that are consumer-first that you have to work around with institutionally-owned devices.
- There are some hard limitations, like apps not having direct access to network interfaces for WiFi scans.
- The greatest benefit is for standard deployments - turning on iPads and connecting them to WiFi will get them 90% of the way to ready for users' hands.
- The 80/20 rule definitely applies, and if there are any problems or unusual setups, they will definitely take inordinately longer to get going.
- iOS devices generally have fewer ways/parts for students/users to break.
iOS is way beyond Android in terms of centralized management. It is way more fleshed out in terms of features, and Android management has all but been abandoned at this point. iOS is still behind Chrome OS, particularly in an educational setting, but there are genuine tradeoffs that might make it a better fit for a given organization, and in fact, we do regularly deploy both iOS and Chrome OS devices.
Do you think iOS delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with iOS's feature set?
Yes
Did iOS live up to sales and marketing promises?
No
Did implementation of iOS go as expected?
No
Would you buy iOS again?
Yes