Intro to federated authentication with Apple Business Manager
You can use federated authentication to link Apple Business Manager to the following:
Google Workspace
Microsoft Entra ID
Your identity provider (IdP)
As a result, your users can leverage their Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, or IdP user name (generally their email address) and password as Managed Apple Account. They can then use those credentials to sign in to their assigned iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and even to iCloud on the web.
Note: You can link to Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, or your IdP, but only one at a time.
To use federated authentication and syncing, your Apple devices must meet the following minimum operating system requirements:
iOS 15.5
iPadOS 15.5
macOS 12.4
visionOS 1.1
Note: Turning on federated authentication also locks a domain if it wasn’t locked previously. For more information, see Lock a domain.
There are specific instances where you might use federated authentication:
Federated authentication only
When Apple Business Manager and Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, or your IdP are linked, Managed Apple Accounts are automatically created for users. They can then sign in using their existing user name (generally their email address) and password.
Federated authentication and directory syncing
You can also sync user accounts from Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, or your IdP to Apple Business Manager. When you set up a directory sync connection, you can add Apple Business Manager properties (such as roles) to user account data imported from one of those services. The services’ user account information is added as read-only until you turn off syncing. At that time, the accounts become manual accounts, and attributes in these accounts can then be edited. If a user account is removed from one of those services, that user account can be removed from Apple Business Manager. See the following:
Federated authentication and Shared iPad
When you use federated authentication with Shared iPad, the sign-in process varies depending on whether the user account already exists in Apple Business Manager. To view the sign-in scenarios, see Sign in to Shared iPad.
If the user forgets their passcode, you must reset the Shared iPad passcode.