Configure Shared iPad with FileWave

Shared iPad lets multiple users sign in to one supervised iPad with organization-owned Managed Apple Accounts. Apple Classroom can use Shared iPad, but Classroom and Shared iPad are separate features.

Enable Shared iPad

Confirm that the iPad model has at least 32 GB of storage and supports Shared iPad.
Add the device to Apple School Manager and assign it to the FileWave MDM server.
Enable Shared iPad in the FileWave Automated Device Enrollment profile before the device activates. See Apple ADE Enrollment for creating, assigning, and synchronizing the profile; enable Shared iPad for this workflow rather than copying the starter guide's general test settings.

Before wiping an in-use iPad, confirm that required user data is saved or synchronized and that the device can be recovered and enrolled again. Erasing removes local data. Keep the first Shared iPad test to an authorized spare device.

Device must then be re-activated (wiped)

Shared iPad and multiple users

Shared iPad does not keep several users signed in concurrently. Users share the device's applications and storage, while supported personal data is associated with their Managed Apple Account and synchronized when they sign in.

Maximum resident users

In the Automated Device Enrollment profile, the maximum resident-user setting controls how many users' local data caches the iPad can retain, not the total number of people allowed to use it. Storage for iPadOS, shared apps, and media is reserved before the remaining user space is divided. Install the required apps when planning capacity, and choose the user count for the amount of personal data those users need.

For example, a 128 GB iPad configured for 10 resident users divides the available user space among those users; it does not give each user one tenth of the entire 128 GB. Returning users can sign in faster when their data is still cached. When an 11th student signs in and space is needed, the iPad removes the oldest user's local cached data to make room. It does not delete that student's Managed Apple Account. Synchronizing and downloading data can make this sign-in slower; the time depends on the amount of data and the available network connection.

See Apple's Prepare Shared iPad guidance for storage allocation and content caching. Test the apps' data storage and synchronization with your organization's accounts before relying on cache removal: not every app saves important work to iCloud.

User Management

There is a new entry in the Client Info dialog showing users on a shared device:

It returns data regarding who is logged in and the amount of space used by that user.
You can:

Delete a user's current cache on a device: next login will be slower, but this will save a slot
Log a user out

Shared iPad and Login

Enter the full Managed Apple Account address
Select one of the recent users
Select a class and then a user from the class
Use "Assign" feature from Classroom app

Passcode is still required; this is pre-login only.
By default, FileWave will use passcode type "four." This can be changed.

Choose the default passcode type

On a self-managed FileWave Server, edit /usr/local/filewave/django/filewave/settings_custom.py, set the value below, and restart Apache. Supported values are four, six, and complex.

settings.CLASSROOM_DEFAULT_PASSCODE_TYPE = "six"

Hosted FileWave customers need FileWave Technical Support to make this hosted-server change because they do not have direct access to the server file.

The Roster API returns a single name value. FileWave uses the first word as the first name and the remaining words as the last name.

Application installation on Shared iPad

Applications can install only when no user is logged in. If a user is signed in, the device can report an invalid MDM command. Use this workflow:

Pre-deploy all required apps before school starts
If you need to deploy an app during school time, then:
- FileWave can be configured to automatically log out users at a given time and proceed with Application self-healing. You can prepare app installation during the day and let FileWave log users out and then install apps overnight; or,
- If urgent, you have to either force logout of all users or get them to manually log out.