Hey Apple Education Community,
I'm hoping we can dive into a frustrating issue we're facing with Bluetooth management on our student iPads, and I'm keen to hear your experiences and potential solutions.
Here's the situation: We need Bluetooth reliably enabled on student iPads, primarily to support Apple Classroom and assistive tech like hearing aids and student-owned Bluetooth peripherals. We were using Mosyle MDM and trying to leverage the "Force Bluetooth Always Enabled" restriction but had to disable it to allow students to pair to other peripherals throughout the day, such as robots. This would help keep students in Apple Classroom by not allowing them to turn Bluetooth off.
The Twist:
Initially, we were led to believe this setting would keep Bluetooth active while still allowing students to pair their own devices (headphones, etc.). However, our testing shows that when this restriction is active, students are completely blocked from adding new Bluetooth devices.
The Breakdown:
Mosyle support clarified that this restriction is tied to "Do not allow bluetooth change," which is the actual blocker for device pairing.
Apparently, Apple's restriction framework doesn't allow these settings to be deployed independently.
Now, let's open the floor:
Has anyone else encountered this problem, either with Mosyle or another MDM? I'm curious if this is a widespread issue or specific to our setup.
What are your thoughts on Apple's restriction behavior here? It seems counterintuitive to prevent pairing when "forcing always on."
Are there alternative MDM configurations or strategies you've found effective for managing Bluetooth in educational settings? Maybe there are hidden gems we haven't discovered yet.
For those supporting students with accessibility needs, how are you managing Bluetooth access? Any insights into best practices would be invaluable.
Is this an Apple restriction that needs to be addressed? Do we need to get more attention to this problem to get a solution from Apple?
I'm really hoping we can pool our collective knowledge and find a better way to manage Bluetooth for our students. This issue has significant implications for accessibility and the seamless integration of technology in the classroom.
Let's start a conversation! What are your thoughts?
March 11, 2025
Thank you for getting this conversation started. We also struggle with this. We currently have it set so that students can turn Bluetooth on/off so they can pair devices. The only solution we have found so far is to use our device management software Mosyle Classroom to lock Bluetooth on for the class period. This then allows teachers to give students the opportunity to connect needed devices. Then it locks Bluetooth on for the remainder of class to allow the teacher to use Apple Classroom. As you can imagine, this also is not always as smooth as we would like either, so we are excited to hear what other school districts are doing. I am also curious to know if the settings change by building or grade level. For example, do elementary buildings have different settings than high school buildings?
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