Core Concepts Overview

GuardMDM is built on three core concepts that work together to manage your Apple fleet at scale.

1. Devices

A Device is any Apple product enrolled in GuardMDM — iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, or Apple Vision Pro. Each device is uniquely identified and maintains a live connection to GuardMDM, reporting its status, installed apps, and compliance with configured policies.

2. Groups

A Group is a collection of devices organized by whatever structure fits your organization: department, role, location, or any custom tag. Groups are hierarchical — a device can belong to one group, and groups can contain subgroups. This lets you model your org chart directly in GuardMDM.

3. Blueprints

A Blueprint is a set of configuration profiles, security policies, and app assignments that define how a device should behave. Blueprints are the source of truth for device settings — Wi-Fi, VPN, passcode policy, restrictions, certificates, and mandatory apps all live in a blueprint.

How They Work Together

The flow is one-directional: a Blueprint is assigned to a Group, and every Device in that Group automatically receives the Blueprint's configuration. Change the Blueprint once, and every device in the group updates on its next check-in. No per-device configuration, no drift.