Remote Supervision is an experimental feature on Tech Lockdown that allows an iPhone, iPad, or even Mac computer to be remotely controlled and managed from Tech Lockdown's dashboard. It's a beta now, and we hope to release it for all users very soon.
For iPhones and iPads, it was previously required to manually supervise each device, and it could become tedious to manage multiple config files if you had several devices.
Fortunately, Remote Supervision makes adding configs and managing devices much easier. The overall process to connect a device only takes a few steps.
First, on the Tech Lockdown dashboard, ensure that Early Access Features are turned on for Remote Supervision.
You should notice that the sidebar changes from this:
To this:
You're now ready to start Remote Supervision. There are two types of scenarios:
- You're starting with a completely fresh iPhone, iPad, or Mac that isn't supervised
- You're bringing a currently supervised iPhone or iPad (still from Tech Lockdown)
If your iPhone was already supervised from Tech Lockdown, we strongly recommend upgrading it instead of unsupervising it first, as unsupervising that iPhone means your device is no longer restricted (even if it was for a brief window). In this case, use these instructions to migrate config files and presets using the Supervised Mode Manager Tool.
The next step is to create devices on the Tech Lockdown dashboard. You can create new devices under the Devices section here:
- Select the device type and the member you'd like to associate with that device, and choose "Remote Supervision".
You should see a full list of all config files currently associated with your account, and you can choose to create a new one for your new device(s) or use an existing config as a template. We generally recommend creating a new config for each device, as each device can only be associated with one config file at a time.
- When you're ready, add the device.
Once created, you should see a screen like this one:
To complete setup, you will need to follow the directions and download Tech Lockdown's Supervised Mode Manager Tool to complete setup. This tool is available for Windows PCs and Mac computers.
- Enter the code generated on the dashboard into the tool when prompted.
- If necessary, remove Config Presets or old config files from your iPhone (if your iPhone was supervised previously). Use these instructions.
Once complete, you should see that your iPhone is connected and ready to go on the dashboard!
On the Devices page, you can select your iPhone to view all available information about that device, including when it was last synced, which apps are installed on the device, and which config is currently associated with that device. You can select the config to start editing it.
Once you save your config, it enters the syncing process and will automatically update on your iPhone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to remotely supervise all iPhones, iPads, or Macs I own?
We strongly recommend it, but it is not required. Even with the new Beta features enabled, it's always possible to manually supervise your own devices if you would prefer.
Just note that some features are much more difficult to enforce on manually supervised devices, such as enforcing the filtered VPN or managing apps. Each time you update your config for your device, you need to manually sync that config to your device.
How can I make it more difficult to remove restrictions from a remotely supervised device?
Profile Locking is still incorporated with Remote Supervision, so we strongly recommend enabling this for your Tech Lockdown account. While your profile is locked, you can:
- Add more restrictions to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, remotely
- Connect an additional device with remote supervision
However, while your profile is locked, you cannot:
- Disconnect or delete a device
- Disable manual or remote supervision
- De-select restrictions on your configs
- Assign your device to a different member on your Tech Lockdown account
- Associate one of your own devices with another config
How do I disable Remote Supervision?
Use these instructions to disable supervision.