How to back up and restore supervised iOS devices without losing any data

Information applies to:

When you configure an iOS device in supervised mode, you reset it to factory-default settings. As a result, all apps and data stored on the device by the user are lost. To avoid this, you must use a backup and restore method that will vary based on the type of data stored and the backup software used:

• iCloud: If the user uses Apple's cloud storage service, it is very likely that you will not need to create any backups manually; in this case, their documents, photos, and other items are not stored on the mobile device but are automatically stored in the cloud. After the device has been formatted and placed in supervised mode, the user simply has to use their Apple ID to regain access to all their information. To verify whether iCloud stores in the cloud all the types of data you want to recover after having enabled supervised mode, see this article. If iCloud does not store all the types of data you want to keep, use the Finder app as explained in this article.
• Finder: If the user does not use iCloud or wants to keep apps or types of data not supported by Apple?s cloud, you must create a backup of the mobile device by following a veryspecific protocol. This is required because Finder also stores the device state in the backup, so, when you restore the device data, you also restore the previous, non-supervised state of the device.
  
  Finder does not store the settings of all the apps that exist on Apple Store. As a previous step, check whether the apps installed on the user?s device will require manual configuration after the restore process is performed.

• Target iOS device: The iOS device that you want to supervise.
• Temporary iOS device: The iOS device that will temporarily hold the backup.
• The OS version of the target iOS device and of the temporary iOS device must be the same.
• macOS device: The device that creates and restores backups.
• Apple Configurator 2 (AC2): You must download and install the latest version of AC2 on the macOS device.
• You must disable the Find my IPhone feature on the target device before you make the backup and on the temporary device before you perform the restore.
• Lightning cable.

1. Disable the Find My IPhone feature.
   • Open Settings.
   • Tap [your name] > Find My.
   • Tap Find My iPhone, then tap to turn it off.
   • Enter your Apple ID password.
   • Tap Turn Off.
2. Connect the target device to the macOS device and open the Finder app.
   You see the iOS devices under Locations. The message Trust This Computer? appears on the macOS and on the iOS device. Tap Trust.
   
   
3. You will see details of the connected iOS device. In Device details, select General > Back Up Now.
   
   NOTE: The backup might start automatically.
   
   
4. When the backup is finished, make a note of the backup timestamp because you will need it in the next step.
   
   

1. Disable the Find My IPhone feature.
   • Open Settings.
   • Tap [your name] > Find My.
   • Tap Find My iPhone, then tap to turn it off.
   • Enter your Apple ID password.
   • Tap Turn Off.
2. Connect the temporary device to the macOS device and open the Finder App. You see the iOS devices under Locations. The message Trust This Computer? appears on the macOS and on the iOS device. Tap Trust.
3. You will see details of the connected iOS devices. In Device details, select General > Restore Backup... .
   
   
4. From the list of backups, select the backup that you created in Step 1. You can identify the backup by its timestamp.
5. This restores the backup of the target device to the temporary device.

1. Connect the temporary device to the macOS device if it is not already connected and open the Finder app.
   You see the iOS devices under Locations. The message Trust This Computer? appears on the macOS device and on the iOS device. Tap Trust.
2. Under Device details, select General > Back Up Now.
   
   
3. Wait for the backup to complete.
4. Make a note of the backup timestamp.

1. Connect the target device to the macOS device. Open the Finder app and select the connected iOS device.
2. Under Device details, select General > Restore Backup... .
   From the list of backups, select the backup that you created in Step 3 (Temporary device backup).
   You can identify the backup by the timestamp.
   
   
3. You see a Restore In Progress message on the target device. Afterwards, the device is restarted.
   
   IMPORTANT! Do not perform any action on the device after the Hello screen is shown.
4. Now, open Apple Configurator 2. The connected device is shown. You can now enable the supervised mode.