Mobile device management frequently asked questions

Important Update: Please read our release note about important updates and limited functionality of our Mobile Device Management solution with the launch of our new Device Management for Apple (DMA). We recommend you enroll your iOS devices with DMA. Read more about migrating from MDM to DMA.

If a mobile device user installs the Mobile Device Management (MDM) application and declines permission for the app to receive notifications from N-able N-central, they will have to delete the application from the device, wait 24 hours, and re-install the application to be prompted to provide this permission again.

The iOS Agent receives location updates from the device and sends a location report to N-able N-central. with the last update when either of the following conditions occurs:

  • the location update meets target accuracy requirements and is less than 15 seconds old, or
  • the iOS Agent has received six location updates.

The rule described above applies to all regular location updates. If the device has Internet connectivity, the iOS Agent will usually receive Wi-Fi or GPS updates (as all iOS devices with cellular radios have GPS). Significant location updates are always reported, regardless of accuracy.


The Android MDM Agent checks the location of the device once per hour and reports a new location to N-able N-central if a new location differs significantly from the previously-reported previous location or it has been more than 24 hours since the last location was submitted.

The MDM Agent cannot report the locations of mobile devices if the user disabled this feature directly on the device itself. For privacy protection, mobile device users have the capability to disable location tracking, which overrides tracking in N-able N-central.

To perform certain MDM activities, the MDM agent application is installed with device administrator privileges. To remove the application from the device, one of the following steps must be performed:

  • Remove the Remote Management profile from within the app before uninstalling; or,
  • Deactivate the MDM Agent as a device administrator from within the device’s security settings.

After performing one the above, the application can then be removed from the device.


Removing the Profile removes the requirement to apply the settings as configured in the Profile. When a Profile is removed, any settings configured by the user will not be removed.

When you remove a mobile device from N-able N-central, you also need to removed any mobile device profiles from the device. When you re-register the device, the device name will appear correctly in N-able N-central.