Nanomdm on MicroMDM

Organization-linked Activation Lock & Bypass

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 04:27:17 +0000

To quote our friends over at Iru (formerly Kandji):

Activation Lock is a theft-deterrent feature found in iOS and iPadOS devices and modern Mac computers (with the Apple T2 Security chip and Apple silicon).

NanoMDM and NanoDEP now have direct support for organization-linked Activation Lock, the flavor of Activation Lock that is not tied to a user’s Apple Account (i.e. not “Find My”). NanoDEP (as of v0.7.0) can lock a device to your organization using the Apple DEP API, and NanoMDM (as of v0.9.0) can unlock a device using Apple’s Escrow Key Unlock endpoint. Both sides revolve around the humble Activation Lock Bypass Code. Below we’ll walk through both, step by step.

MicroMDM v1 project maintenance mode

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 14:10:00 -0700

The MicroMDM project in its current form—what I refer to as MicroMDM “v1”—has effectively been in maintenance mode for years now. Development effort has been almost entirely focused on NanoMDM and the “Nano”-suite of projects. This post serves to merely confirm and formalize the current situation: MicroMDM “v1” is indeed in maintenance mode.

Introducing NanoMDM

Sun, 30 May 2021 11:45:00 -0700

I’d like to introduce NanoMDM. From the project’s README:

NanoMDM is a minimalist Apple MDM server heavily inspired by MicroMDM.

Which is a rather minimalist description itself. To expand a bit: NanoMDM is a fully functional (yet scope-limited) “core” Apple MDM protocol server written in Golang. Another small open source MDM server, you ask? Yes! Doesn’t that also describe MicroMDM, too? Well, yes it does. So what gives? Why a new project?

I hope to explain how this project came about, why I think it has a place here, and a little about how it differs from MicroMDM. I think this will give some insight into the goals and design of NanoMDM along the way as well. Finally, I hope to recruit your help with this new open source project.