I stumbled upon a discussion in a parenting group about kids managing to bypass screen time restrictions, but the tools mentioned claim they can bypass even corporate Mobile Device Management (MDM) setups. I'm skeptical about dropping $50 or more on something that's probably just a copy of other programs out there. I'm curious if anyone has experience with these tools and whether we should actually be concerned about their effectiveness at bypassing restrictions on corporate devices. One specific tool mentioned was "Tenorshare 4U," but there seem to be many similar software options with random names and identical marketing. Any insights?
4 Answers
If this software was capable of working as claimed, it would be exploiting a major security flaw in iOS. In fact, if someone could fully bypass a PIN, Apple would probably pay them $100,000 for reporting the bug. Honestly, this software seems like a scam, so I wouldn’t waste your money on it.
I totally get your worries. I'm in a library, and we have devices enrolled in MDM too. Good to know you don’t plan to waste your money!
For iPhones and iPads, there are tools like Imazing that can remove MDM and supervision from a backup, which can then be restored. Activation in Apple Business Manager (ABM) is a strong safeguard because it catches devices early in the activation process. Anything that doesn’t use ABM might be vulnerable to offline hacks.
Having worked with MDM setups extensively, I can say I haven’t seen any tools bypass an Apple Business Manager enrolled device. In the past, older devices used to have vulnerabilities, but nowadays, when a device is wiped, it usually asks for an AD username and password or will automatically enroll. If it's just a managed device via Apple Configurator and not in ABM, there might be some loopholes, but I wouldn’t stress about it too much.
Don’t worry too much. You can probably tell who’s trying these methods by monitoring device issues. Most of these tools can only wipe and reset devices, and if they mess up, just check with users to see who got their devices swapped.
You’re right! I’ve also tried out some sketchy services to unblacklist phones. Some turned out to be legit after all, so you never know!
Honestly, the best solution might just be to buy your own Mac. Trying to mess with MDM isn't worth the hassle if you can avoid it altogether!
Great point! I wish I’d just said that instead. Thanks for the info.