How to Install Monitor on iOS Devices

This article outlines the steps for installing Monitor on iPads. You can protect iPads by ensuring the Smoothwall Browser is the only web browser used on these devices, allowing Monitor to scan text that users enter into web pages.

During deployment, you must remove all browsers, including Safari, as these browsers cannot monitor text that users enter into web pages.

What you need

To install Smoothwall Browser on iPads, you need the following:

• iOS14 or later
• iPad enrollment to your school’s MDM
• Monitor licence information
  
  1. Sign in to Smoothwall Portal > Monitor > Organisations.
  2. On the Organisations tab, select Edit for your organisation (or school).
  3. On the left navigation, select Licence information.
  4. Copy and save your UNCL Serial (Serial) and Organization ID (UUID).

Image 1: Copy and save UNCL Serial and Organization ID.

Step1: Push the Smoothwall browser to iPads

Monitor recommends updating all your iPads to Smoothwall Browser 39.3 or newer.

1. In your MDM select Show or Hide Apps.
   
   

   Note

   Refer to your MDM’s documentation for more information on disabling access to Safari.

2. Disable Safari and other browser apps (for example, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Brave).
3. Push the Smoothwall Browser app with the minimum three settings:
   • Your UNCL Serial number for Monitor
   • Your OrgID/TenantID for Monitor
   • The username of the student assigned to the iPad

Most MDMs will identify the Bundle ID automatically when you add the Smoothwall Browser app. If your MDM requires an explicit association of the Bundle ID, use ‘com.smoothwall.ios.Firefox’ (case sensitive).

The following field names are for Smoothwall Browser 39.3 and newer. Monitor will support older versions of the configuration field names if you can’t update your iOS devices.  

To control whether other apps are allowed to display web content, see Limiting access to in-app browsers on iPad.

Step 2: Create a manual Properties list (plist)

If your MDM does not have a User Interface for configuring individual fields, upload a 'plist’ file to the iPads.

The UserID field is required to determine the user shown in the logs and alerts. To have the correct value, do not hard-code a string; let your MDM push the users’ variables into the plist instead. For example, you can push the user’s variable %Email% in JAMF School and {{userprincipalname}} for the UPN in Intune.

To find the variables for your MDM provider, consult their documentation:

• JAMF
• JAMF School
• Intune
• Lightspeed
• Meraki
• Mosyle

If you use the Apple School Manager to manage shared iPads, see Additional Configuration Options for Shared iPads for more information.

MDM Plist Examples

Jamf Pro

Unset

<dict>
<key>SmoothwallSerialNumber</key>
<string></string>
<key>SmoothwallTenantID</key>
<string></string>
<key>UserID</key>
<string></string>
<key>UniqueDeviceID</key>
<string>$DEVICENAME</string>
<key>HomePageURL</key>
<string>https://www.google.com</string>
</dict>

Jamf School

Unset

<plist>
<dict>
<key>SmoothwallSerialNumber</key>
<string></string>
<key>SmoothwallTenantID</key>
<string></string>
<key>UserID</key>
<string></string>
<key>UniqueDeviceID</key>
<string>%Name%</string>
<key>HomePageURL</key>
<string>https://www.google.com</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Lightspeed

Unset

<dict>
<key>SmoothwallSerialNumber</key>
<string></string>
<key>SmoothwallTenantID</key>
<string></string>
<key>UserID</key>
<string></string>
<key>UniqueDeviceID</key>
<string>%device_name%</string>
</dict>

Intune

Unset

<dict>
<key>SmoothwallSerialNumber</key>
<string></string>
<key>SmoothwallTenantID</key>
<string></string>
<key>UserID</key>
<string></string>
<key>UniqueDeviceID</key>
<string>{{devicename}}</string>
<key>HomePageURL</key>
<string>https://www.google.com</string>
</dict>

Step 3: Verify the installation

Use your MDM to force a restart of the devices after installation. To verify the installation, open the Smoothwall Browser on an iPad. If the installation is successful you will be able to open a website.

If the installation fails, you will be prompted for the user configuration details. To resolve the issue, check your MDM variables for case-sensitivity and completeness. Then, redeploy the installation. If you continue to have issues with your installation, contact your Monitor deployment manager or Smoothwall Support for assistance.