Control All Mobile Devices 😳 ManageEngine MDM Full Guide

Sign In to the MDM Console and Finish the One-Time Setup

Start by opening the ManageEngine Mobile Device Manager Plus console — in the video he works in the cloud console, and the same product also comes in an on-premises edition you install on your own server. Sign in with your admin account and complete the first-time setup. Everything in this guide — enrollment, profiles, apps and remote actions — is done from this single web console; there is nothing to install on your own PC and no commands to run.

Create the APNs Certificate for iOS Devices

Before a single iPhone or iPad can be managed, Apple requires an APNs (Apple Push Notification service) certificate — this is what lets the MDM server talk to iOS devices. From the console go to Enrollment and open the APNs Certificate section, then generate the CSR (Certificate Signing Request). Download it and get it signed by Zoho Corporation from the link provided in the console.

Next, sign in to the Apple Push Certificates Portal with a corporate Apple ID, create the certificate by uploading the signed CSR, and download the Apple-signed certificate file (MDM_ZOHO_Corporation_Certificate.pem). Back in the MDM console, upload that file, enter the corporate Apple ID and a notification email address, and click Upload. iOS enrollment is now unlocked.

Enroll Android Devices with the ME MDM App

Send the enrollment invite from the console (from the Enrollment section you can invite users one by one or import a CSV for bulk enrollment). On the Android phone, the user opens the self-enrollment link, which takes them to the ME MDM app on the Play Store. Install and open the app, select MDM Cloud (or the on-premises server, if that is what you run), and sign in with the invited account.

Specify whether the device is personal or corporate-owned, accept the terms, and enable Device Administrator by tapping Activate. The phone now appears in your console inventory, and any profiles or apps already assigned to its group are applied automatically.

Enroll iPhones and iPads with the Enrollment Link

On the iPhone or iPad, the user opens the self-enrollment URL from the invite and signs in with the account that belongs to your organisation. After choosing whether the device is personal or corporate, the user installs the Mobile Device Manager Plus profile when prompted and trusts it in the device settings.

As soon as the profile is installed, the device is enrolled: it shows up in the console inventory with its full details, and the profiles and apps distributed to its group start applying on their own.

Organise Devices into Groups and Assign Users

Do not manage phones one by one. In the console, arrange the enrolled devices into groups — for example by department (Accounts, Sales, Field Team) or by platform (Android, iOS) — and make sure each device is assigned to its user. Groups are the unit everything else works on: whatever profile or app you distribute to a group reaches every device in it, including devices enrolled later.

Create Profiles — Push Wi-Fi, Passcode and Policy Settings

Profiles are how settings reach the phones. In the console, go to Profiles, click Create Profile and choose the platform — iOS, Android or Windows. A profile is created separately for each platform, because each system has its own settings.

Give the profile a name and description, then define the configurations from the left pane: Wi-Fi (office network name and password, so staff phones join automatically and the password is never shared by hand), Passcode rules, Restrictions (for example camera or app installation controls), and other settings such as email or VPN where you need them. Save each configuration as you go, then click Publish. A published profile does nothing until you associate it with devices or groups — distribute it to the groups from step 5 and the settings land on every phone in those groups.

Distribute Apps Silently from the Console

Add the apps your team needs to the console's app repository — store apps from the Play Store / App Store, or your company's own in-house app files. Then distribute the apps to the device groups. On managed devices the required apps are installed for the user without them having to hunt through a store, and staff can also pick optional apps themselves from the App Catalog that appears on the device.

Because distribution is group-based, when a new employee's phone is enrolled into the right group, the full set of office apps arrives on its own.

Manage Devices Remotely — Locate, Lock and Wipe a Lost Phone

Day to day, the console's inventory gives you a live view of every enrolled device — model, OS, user and compliance state — and you can trigger a scan to refresh the details. When a phone is lost or an employee leaves, select the device in the console and use the remote actions: locate the device on a map, lock it immediately, or wipe it — a full wipe for a lost corporate phone, so office data does not walk away with the handset.