By: Kelli Conlin, Consulting Engineer
Imagine that it’s the first week back to school after summer break. Your students are diving in to a full agenda of collaborative work on the classroom set of shared laptops when one of them waves you over with a worried look.
“How do I login?” she says. “I don’t think I have an account on this computer.” Another chimes in, “My laptop is saying it’s full. Can you help?”
This is a very familiar interruption in education. In schools where devices are shared, login issues can create friction and frustration. Students lose learning time. Teachers lose momentum. And IT teams often have to step in to keep storage clear of old data from dozens of prior users.
Later this year, you’ll have a new solution on Mac.
A better way to share Macs
Authenticated Guest Mode in Platform SSO was announced this year at WWDC 25 and is designed for schools using shared Macs. It’ll allow students and educators to access a Mac instantly using their school identity provider (IdP) credentials. A secure guest session is created for each user, preserving privacy, while providing the apps and service they use with the single sign-on tokens they need for instant access and instant learning.
When a user signs in, a secure guest session is created. It includes the apps and services they need, while keeping their data private and isolated from other users. When the user ends their session, none of their data is retained or stored and the Mac is ready for the next user.
Built for classrooms, labs, and flexible learning spaces
Whether it’s a shared cart of Macs in a classroom, a media lab for high school video projects, or a MacBook used across multiple prep periods, Authenticated Guest Mode helps users access devices more efficiently while protecting student privacy.
With MDM and an IdP, IT teams can configure settings for the Mac and ensure the right apps and services are available in each session.
Designed for privacy and performance
Authenticated Guest Mode runs each session independently. That means student data stays secure, and devices remain clean and reliable throughout the day. IT teams can configure policies and settings through MDM to ensure everything works the way it should.
Because it uses your school’s existing IdP, there’s no need to onboard users into a separate user account system — it’s using the credentials your students and staff already use.
Simple, secure, and ready to learn
Authenticated Guest Mode is a new way to support shared-use models for Mac where students and staff sign in securely and get access without needing dedicated user accounts on every device.
It’s coming later this year for schools using Platform Single Sign-On with a supported Identity Provider; we can't wait for you to try it!
To stay up to date on testing documentation, release notes, and deployment guidance for upcoming features like Authenticated Guest Mode and Tap to Login, be sure to monitor AppleSeed for IT. If you’re new to AppleSeed and want to learn how to get started, check out this overview on Apple Education Community.
Attach up to 5 files which will be available for other members to download.