Classroom – Image Service

The Classroom app can display student pictures. If no picture is available, Classroom uses the student's initials. FileWave needs a configured image service so it knows where to request those pictures.

Classroom uses SSL for communication and uses the device certificate to authenticate to the image service. FileWave receives the request from the device, checks whether the certificate is valid, then requests the image from the configured picture-hosting service and returns it to the device.

People in the Classroom environment, including teachers and students, have an identifier (sis_id). Images are stored on the referenced server in two sizes: small and large. Recommended image sizes are 675x1024 pixels for the small image and 2700x4100 pixels for the large image. Test a few images before deploying hundreds so you can confirm they display correctly on your student devices.

In FileWave Central, go to Preferences > Education > Apple Classroom to specify where FileWave requests Classroom images from. FileWave supports HTTP and HTTPS image URLs, plus basic and digest authentication.

Classroom and Shared iPad login screens cache images for a long time based on the image URL. The reset button shown above does not clear the cache directly. It generates a new URL for each image so devices download the images again.

If you are troubleshooting missing student photos, stale Classroom pictures, or Shared iPad user images that will not refresh, check the Apple Classroom image service settings and use the reset option to force new image URLs.

For more information about setting up your Classroom image service, see Getting student images into Classroom.