In a few weeks’ time Apple will launch new iPhones and a new OS version: iOS 18. We should also see an iPadOS 18 update. As usual, many users will immediately jump onto the new iOS version as soon as it is available to the public. If you are an organisation that issues iPhones and iPads to their end users through Apple Business Manager and an MDM solution, I would recommend to not immediately do the upgrade to the new iOS version. Through your MDM solution Apple allows you to delay the update on supervised devices for up to 90 days. This gives you ample time to test all your business applications and confirm that they work properly with iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. When the tests are finished successfully, your users can safely do the upgrade to iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. And you can rest assured that you will not be flooded with support requests related to the upgrade.
My recommendation is to delay the updates for 30 days and then go through your test plan. Should you encounter issues during the testing that need to be addressed by Apple, your MDM supplier or any 3rd party app developer, you can easily extend the 30 days as required and work on having the issues resolved.
With BlackBerry UEM delaying the software updates is easy and simple. All you need to do is modify the IT policy assigned to your users or their devices and enable “Delay software updates (supervised)” and set a value for “Software update delay period (supervised only)”. The screenshot below shows an “IT Policy” with the delay enabled for 30 days. Other MDM solutions usually give you similar options to configure the software update delay. Good luck with your testing!
