How Okta’s integration with Apple strengthens security, elevates user experience, and eases administration

Recognizing that IT teams need an approach to device management that is simple, secure, and scalable, Okta has integrated with Apple to deliver: 

• Seamless deployment that gets workforce members up and running quickly and securely
• Intuitive and cohesive user experiences that eliminate or lower productivity hurdles
• Enhanced security measures like secure sign-on and automatic responses to security events
• Streamlined creation and management of Managed Apple Accounts that are aligned with enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Apple enables enterprise Identity providers (IdPs) to be integrated with Apple Business Manager. Okta was proud to be one of the first Identity providers to implement this capability, as our integration with Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager delivers the secure and seamless capabilities needed by both users and administrators. 

Check out this video to see how the integration works. 

Simplifying deployment and ongoing management of Apple IDs and devices

Apple Business Manager is a web-based portal for IT administrators to configure, from one place:

• IAM options for Managed Apple Accounts
• Device management options for Apple devices

Working seamlessly with your organization’s mobile device management (MDM) solution, such as Jamf, Apple Business Manager’s support for customer IdPs — built according to open standards including OpenID Connect (OIDC), System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM), and OpenID Shared Signals Framework — makes it easy for organizations to connect their Okta Workforce Identity Cloud to simplify admin and end-user experiences. In particular:

• Federated Authentication, powered by OIDC, will allow end-users to sign into their Managed Apple Account by signing into the Okta account; in practice, this means that by entering their Okta login, users will be automatically signed into the Apple services that power their work
• Directory Sync, powered by SCIM, will automate the process of creating Managed Apple Accounts anytime a new user is detected in Okta
• Account security events (powered by OpenID Shared Signal Framework) will allow Okta to notify Apple Business Manager whenever an important account security event (such as password reset) occurs within Okta, so Apple can prompt the end-user to take appropriate action when necessary

Notably, the same federated authentication also works for Apple School Manager, integrating with an institution’s student information system (SIS). In this case, Managed Apple Accounts — for students, teachers, and staff — can sync with Classroom data as well as the school’s SIS.

Here’s how one customer, Beyond, Inc., described their motivation and how the integration between Okta and Apple addressed their needs: “We wanted a way to streamline the login process for our end users to ensure a zero trust model that our Managed Apple Accounts would be built on — something that we as a business could have trust in, and something that our end users have trust in. The integration helped us expand who was able to get a Managed Apple Account. Users are able to log into their Managed Apple Account seamlessly now using Okta FastPass by using a simple tap of their finger on Touch ID, which moves us closer to our passwordless goal to be able to streamline the end users’ process of getting into different applications.”

Building on a history of integration

The integration with Apple Business Manager builds on, and in several cases strongly complements, a long list of integrations between Okta and Apple, including: 

• Okta Device Access with Platform Single Sign-On (PSSO): In addition to synchronizing users’ local Mac passwords with Okta for secure, streamlined device access, the further integration between Okta Device Access and Apple Business Manager extends the benefits of user management, single sign-on, and continuous authentication to devices and applications that use Managed Apple Accounts.
• Enrollment Single Sign-On (ESSO) with Okta Verify: This integration streamlines the initiation of bring your own device (BYOD) into remote management by facilitating the installment of Okta Verify onto users’ Apple devices. This enables the apps used on the managed Apple device to use Okta’s SSO extension, further unifying and simplifying secure access to key tools for employees.
• SSO Extension: Okta’s integration with Apple SSO Extension simplifies the login experience for users on Apple devices by allowing them to authenticate with Okta once and access multiple apps and services.
• Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI (ITP): Okta AI lets organizations harness the power of AI to build better experiences and protect against cyberattacks. With Identity Threat Protection, Okta can detect and send security events to Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager to enable Universal Logout, terminating users' sessions and their tokens for supported Okta-integrated apps in response to a change in risk.
• Okta Verify: A fully native Okta Verify app lets Apple Vision Pro enterprise users quickly and easily verify their identities and log in to their Okta-supported apps.

Learn more here about Okta’s support for Apple products.