Apple MDM
Ranked 4 of 4 MDM software by recommenders
People recommend Apple's built-in MDM for locking down and managing macOS and iOS devices, with several deployment methods that work out of the box. Critics call it frustrating and say macOS management is a different challenge.
People recommend Apple's built-in MDM for locking down and managing macOS and iOS devices, with several deployment methods that work out of the box. Critics call it frustrating and say macOS management is a different challenge.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 63%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong device lockdown and policy control
“I would argue that Apple has a better MDM ecosystem if there are any kind of policy constraints beyond one laptop per child.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces MacBook Neo” “Apple has MDM (Mobile Device Management) that locks a device down pretty well.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data” Strong management on macOS and iOS
“macOS is the easiest endpoint platform to manage. Apple's MDM capabilities are amazing”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too” “macOS is a completely different beast though”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Apple Business”
Other MDM software people recommend
The three most recommended other MDM software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Business | 17 | 52 | 25% | 2 | — | — |
| Microsoft Intune | 10 | 22 | 31% | 4 | — | — |
| Jamf | 8 | 7 | 53% | 5 | — | — |
| Apple MDMThis page | 5 | 3 | 63% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Apple has MDM (Mobile Device Management) that locks a device down pretty well.”
“iOS+MDM has been fantastic over the years”
“macOS is a completely different beast though”
“Apple and MDM has always been a shit show”
“we can read the doc and notice there are 6 different deployment methods that work (out of the box)”
“I would argue that Apple has a better MDM ecosystem if there are any kind of policy constraints beyond one laptop per child.”
“apple MDM on our company-managed devices combined with data transfer via iTunes backup”
“macOS is the easiest endpoint platform to manage. Apple's MDM capabilities are amazing”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.