Monday, June 17, 2013

You CAN back up a Supervised iPad and Recover the Data to an Unsupervised Device...

If you have a Supervised iPad and for whatever reason need to get the data transferred to an Unsupervised device, you can accomplish this by following these steps:


I tested this with a single iPad so after I created the backup, I unplugged the device and reset it to factory settings. If you are testing this using a second iPad, you can skip this step.


  1. Connect a supervised iPad to your Mac and open Configurator (this must be the same machine that Supervised the device initially).
  2. Click on the Supervision tab and click on your USB connected iPad.
  3. Choose Devices from the menu list and select Backup.
  4. Name your backup file and click Create Backup.
  5. Once the backup finishes, click the drop down menu next to Restore in the right side window.
  6. Choose Edit Stored Backups
  7. Scroll through the list and find the backup that you just created.
  8. Click on your backup and then press the Option key. This will add a sharing icon to the - icon on the bottom left of the window.
  9. Click on the sharing icon and choose a location for your backup and click Export.
  10. Once the export finishes, click Done.
  11. Click the Devices menu option and choose Unsupervise. It will warn you that the device will be wiped.
  12. Once this process finishes, you should see your iPad in the Prepare window.
  13. Slide the Supervision switch to OFF.
  14. Choose No Change in the IOS box.
  15. Click the Restore drop down and choose Other. If Other is not an option here, make sure that the Supervision switch is set to OFF).
  16. Navigate to your saved backup file and click the Open button. 
  17. Click Prepare.
  18. Once the backup process finishes up, the iPad should now be Unsupervised, but your data from the backup is present. It's important to note that if you look in the General setting on the device, you will see the Supervision profile installed; however, it is not active in any way and you should be able to use your device freely with no restrictions.
  19. Once you re-download your apps, all data should be recovered.