What Apple Business Manager is, and why your company needs it

Apple Business Manager is a free web portal from Apple for organisations. It is the link between the Apple devices your company buys and the device management tool that looks after them.

What it does

• Automatic enrollment. Devices bought from Apple or an authorised reseller appear in your account. You assign them to your management tool, and they enroll themselves the first time they start.
• Supervision. iPhones and iPads enrolled this way become supervised company devices. That unlocks extra controls, and staff cannot simply remove management.
• Apps without personal accounts. You buy app licences centrally and assign them to devices, so nobody needs a personal Apple Account for work apps.
• Managed Apple Accounts. Work accounts you control, which can connect to Microsoft Entra ID or Google Workspace so people sign in with their usual work password.

What you need to sign up

• Your company's legal name, exactly as registered
• A D-U-N-S number for the company, which Apple uses to confirm the organisation exists
• A work email address that is not already used as an Apple Account
• A person at the company who can confirm the request when Apple gets in touch

Linking your resellers

Give your Apple reseller the organisation ID shown in Apple Business Manager. From then on, devices you buy from them appear in your account automatically.

Devices bought somewhere else

Devices from a shop that is not linked, or brought in by staff, can usually be added with Apple Configurator. For 30 days after being added, the user can remove the device from management, so add devices close to the time you hand them out.

When a device leaves the company

Release it from Apple Business Manager before you sell or recycle it. Otherwise it keeps trying to enroll with your company when the next owner sets it up.

We set up Apple Business Manager as part of every Apple device management project, including the D-U-N-S check and reseller links.