Glossary
Apple Configurator
Apple Configurator is Apple's tool for configuring iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs by hand, over USB from a Mac or by scanning from an iPhone. Its main role in an MDM setup is adding devices that weren't bought through a reseller to Apple Business Manager, so they can be enrolled and supervised like the rest of the fleet.
How it works
There are two products under the same name. Apple Configurator for Mac dates back to 2012 and works over a USB cable: connect a device, and you can supervise it, install profiles, restore a backup or push apps. It's the tool for a cart of 30 iPads that all need the same image before a class starts.
Apple Configurator for iPhone arrived in 2021 with a different purpose. Instead of a cable, you point the iPhone camera at the animated pattern shown by a new Mac during Setup Assistant, and since iOS 16 the same works with a new iPhone or iPad. The device is added to your Apple Business Manager organization on the spot. From there, Automated Device Enrollment takes over on the next boot.
Both routes create a provisional period of 30 days. During that window the device can be removed from ABM by the user, who sees a notice in Settings. After 30 days the assignment becomes permanent.
Why it matters for a fleet
Most companies end up with devices that never went through a reseller. Someone bought an iPhone at a retail store on expenses, a subsidiary in another country used a local shop, a batch was inherited from an acquisition. None of those appear in ABM, so they can't be enrolled automatically or supervised without a cable.
Configurator closes that gap. It costs nothing, needs one Mac or one iPhone, and takes about a minute per device. The requirement is a wipe: adding a device to ABM only works from a fresh Setup Assistant, so back up anything that matters first.
What Configurator does not do is replace an MDM. It configures a device at one moment in time. It doesn't push a new policy next week or wipe a phone left in a taxi. Think of it as the loading dock, not the warehouse.
How Appaloosa handles it
Once a device has been added to ABM with Configurator and assigned to Appaloosa, it enrolls at first boot like any reseller device: supervised, with the right restrictions and apps from Apps and Books. Appaloosa's onboarding guide covers the Configurator steps for adding stray devices, and the iOS and iPadOS MDM page details what supervision unlocks afterward, including kiosk mode and Activation Lock bypass.
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