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Faniediv

Suspended
Original poster
Oct 23, 2021
3
0
South Africa
I am a pensioner and not at all tech savvy.
So I bought an iPad Air (4th generation) from Facebook marketplace. Everything seemed OK until I try to connect with my computer.
It has Meraki Systems Manager MDM installed and will not allow me to connect. The seller has disappeared
So it seems I just wasted a big hunk of my pension on a stolen item? Can there be any other reason than stolen that will cause this?
Is there anyway I can contact the original owner?
If I cannot return the iPad to the legal owner, is it possible to remove the MDM?
 
After the steps from post 2 make sure that you can erase the device and restore it to factory settings to start fresh.
 
  1. Open Settings on the device.
  2. Go to General > Device Management.
  3. Select the MDM profile.
  4. Select 'Remove Management'.
Assuming it isn’t supervised, which it will be if the company that owned it knew what they were doing.
 
The company that owns/owned the iPad need to remove the iPad from their system.
 
Was the iPad set up already when you got it, or had it been restored to factory defaults?
If it was already setup, you could try restoring it to factory defaults.
However, if you cannot remove the management from Meraki, this would indicate that it is supervised and setting it up after factory reset would probably result in being re-enrolled into Meraki as used by whatever company originally owned it.
Speaking from experience in managing over 5000 iPads in an MDM, any reputable organisation when replacing/disposing of iPads would remove it from the MDM and Apple Business/School Manager to undo this setup.
In addition, they would have restored the iPad after removing it from those systems.
 
Borrowing this thread for a short bit.

Getting a supervised, MDM managed work iPhone. Do I dare to set it up with my own personal Apple ID? What are the risks involved with this, concerning all my Apple devices linked to my Apple ID are connected through iCloud.

I'm completely fine letting my employer supervise what I do on my work phone, but not the use of my personal devices.
 
MacRazySwe
I can comment on this.
In cases where the organisation that I worked for required for staff to have an organisation provided iPad but to then "self-manage" the device (setting, app installs, etc), staff used a personal Apple ID.

There was only one scenario that ever caused a problem.
That scenario was when a staff member activated Find My Device and then when leaving the organisation did not log out of their Apple ID before handing the device back in.
Note: This situation was able to be addressed but caused some significant delays (up to 10 working days) for Apple to remove the activation lock taht gets created to the device when Find My is turned on.

By way of example, I have not worked for a period of 6 months and I still have possession of my Apple ID on one of my personal iPads. I am not experiencing any issues.
 
Thanks everyone. Not knowing Apple products, is there any possibility to find the original owner? If I can return the item some good can come from this
 
Borrowing this thread for a short bit.

Getting a supervised, MDM managed work iPhone. Do I dare to set it up with my own personal Apple ID? What are the risks involved with this, concerning all my Apple devices linked to my Apple ID are connected through iCloud.

I'm completely fine letting my employer supervise what I do on my work phone, but not the use of my personal devices.
MDM gives your employer complete control over the device it’s installed on. I personally would never associate my personal Apple ID with a device managed by MDM under someone else’s control.
 
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MDM gives your employer complete control over the device it’s installed on. I personally would never associate my personal Apple ID with a device managed by MDM under someone else’s control.

Thanks, but it’s just that - I’m fine giving control to device it’s installed on. It’s a work phone after all.

My worry is with synced data through iCloud and if they can somehow get access to my other devices. My plan was to keep my iPad and MacBook for personal use, but connected to the same Apple ID.

Thanks and sorry for derailing the thread.
 
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