Connect VPP / Apps & Books

Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) lets you buy apps and books in bulk and assign licenses to devices or users. GuardMDM integrates with VPP so you can purchase, assign, and reclaim licenses — all from the dashboard.

Why Connect VPP

• Bulk purchasing — Buy apps once, deploy to your entire fleet
• License management — Assign, revoke, and reassign licenses without touching each device
• Silent installation — Deploy VPP apps without user interaction on supervised devices
• Cost control — Reclaim licenses from retired devices and reuse them

Steps

1. Generate a VPP token in Apple Business Manager — Go to Apple Business Manager > Settings > Apps & Books > Manage Tokens. Create a new token (or download an existing one).
2. Upload the token to GuardMDM — In the GuardMDM dashboard, navigate to Settings > VPP / Apps & Books. Upload the .vpptoken file you downloaded from Apple Business Manager.
3. Sync assets — After uploading, click Sync Now. GuardMDM pulls your app catalog and current license counts from Apple.
4. Verify the connection — The VPP page shows your organization name, token expiry date, and a summary of available licenses.

Browsing the App Catalog

Once the token is synced, go to Apps & Books > Catalog to browse all available VPP apps. Each app shows:

• App name, icon, and publisher
• Total licenses purchased and available
• License type (device-licensed or user-licensed)

Token Expiry Monitoring

VPP tokens expire annually. GuardMDM displays the expiry date on the VPP settings page and sends a dashboard notification 30 days before expiry. When a token expires, app sync and license assignment stop working — upload a new token from Apple Business Manager to restore functionality.

VPP Token Expiry — App Deployment Stops

When the VPP token expires:

• New app installations fail — cannot install VPP apps on devices
• License management stops — cannot assign, revoke, or reassign licenses
• App catalog stops syncing — new apps won't appear in the catalog
• Already installed apps continue working — existing apps on devices are unaffected

Recovery: Download a new token from Apple Business Manager and upload it to GuardMDM. All existing license assignments remain intact.

Next: Detailed app management workflows are covered in the App Management section.