Apple Business Manager Update

Somesh Pathak -

Overview

On October 24th, 2022, Apple posted updated versions of operating system software license agreements to the Apple Business Manager. Until and unless you accept the new agreements with Apple Business Manager, you won’t be able to enrol any devices or deploy new apps to your supervised devices.

This post will be a short one with reasons for new agreements along with steps showing how to accept the new T&Cs.

Why Is There A New Agreement Every Year?

Whenever Apple releases a major version of their macOS, iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS, it updates the Software License Agreement for these builds. When a Software License Agreement is updated, an Apple Business Manager Administrator must log into the program website to review and agree to the updated terms.

Depending upon which all Apple products you manage in your MDM solution, Apple will publish the new agreement for those platforms on your program website.

Who Can Accept the New Agreement?

The person who completes the initial program enrollment also accepts the following Terms and Conditions on behalf of the enrolling organization:

  1. Apple Business Manager Agreement
  2. macOS Software License Agreement
  3. iOS Software License Agreement
  4. tvOS Software License Agreement

After completing enrollment, this person becomes the Administrator in Apple Business Manager and can designate up to four more administrators.

Accepting Updated Agreements

As soon as Apple updates the agreements, the Apple Business Manager Administrator must sign in to the program website to accept any new agreements. The steps are as below:

  1. Sign in as an Administrator in Apple Business Manager.
  1. Immediately after log-in, you will be prompted to accept the terms and conditions
  1. Select the check-boxes to accept & agree to the new T&Cs.
  1. And done! You are all set to use the ADE program again, as usual.

The Worst Scenario

Even if you don’t accept the agreements, the devices assigned to your MDM server (Intune) in Apple Business Managerwon’t be affected. If you erase all content and settings on a device, the device is still assigned to the same MDM server, and the same settings are applied during setup.

However, these conditions will apply until the ABM administrator accepts the new agreements:

  • Apple Business Manager can reset user passwords and send or print login information, but other site functions will be disabled.
  • In Apple Business Manager, the administrator or device managers can’t assign new devices to the MDM server, even if you automatically select the option to assign new purchases for the MDM server token.
  • Intune might report an error message like “403 T_C_NOT_SIGNED” when communicating with Apple’s device management servers.

So don’t wait. Login to your ABM program website and accept the new agreement. All it takes is one click, and you are hassle-free for the rest of the year.

Stay In(tuned) and be #intuneinspired.