General iPad Troubleshooting Steps

The following steps can greatly improve your experience while using a District iPad if you are having issues:

Close Unused Applications

Check Your Wi-Fi Connection

Turn Off 'Background App Refresh'

Check the Version of iOS/Update to the Current Version of iOS 

Battery Issues? Turn Down the Screen Brightness

Apps Are Missing or Showing as "Waiting"

Reset an iPad to Factory Defaults

Assigning an iPad

Finding the iPad Serial Number

Other Helpful Information:  Request/Install/Update an App on a District iPad

Close Unused Applications:

• Bring up a list of all apps that are running in the background:  Double-click the home button at the bottom of your iPad.  When you press it twice in quick succession, your most recent apps are shown as cascading windows across the screen. You can navigate and close unused windows of apps by swiping from left-to-right or right-to-left.  The active window will have its corresponding app icon above it.
• Close an individual app:  Hold your finger down on the active window, without lifting your finger from the screen, swipe toward the top of the display.
• Reboot the iPad:  Closing apps will not always do the trick. In this case, rebooting the iPad is the next step. This will flush everything from memory and give your iPad a clean start.

Check Your Wi-Fi Connection:

It might not be the iPad that is running slow. It might be the Wi-Fi network. 

• Go to Settings > Wi-Fi, and make sure Wi-Fi is turned on. iPads use BSD-Devices as the SSID (Network Name) while in the school building. 
• If you are having Wi-Fi issues, try turning off the current Wi-Fi connection (move the slider to the OFF position) and then turning the connection back on again.
• If power-cycling the connection doesn't fix the issue, try connecting with another device (your cell phone, laptop, etc.).

Turn Off 'Background App Refresh'

This can actually save you some battery life as well as keep your iPad run faster. When Background App Refresh is turned on, apps that take advantage of this feature can refresh themselves in the background, this can take up additional bandwidth and affect the performance of the device and your network. To turn off Background App Refresh:

• Go to your iPad's settings.
• Select General from the left-hand navigation menu.
• Tap Background App Refresh.
• Tap the on/off slider at the top of the screen.

Battery Issues? Turn Down the Screen Brightness

Turn down the screen brightness by swiping down from the upper right corner of the screen. Find the brightness slider and slide it down. Around 60% is ideal.

Check the Version of iOS/Update to the Current Version of iOS 

• Settings > General > About > Software Version
• iPads should, ideally, be on iOS versions 13 or 14 for most applications to work properly. Any iPad on a version less than iOS version 12 (aka 11.x or 9.3.5) should not be assigned to students 1:1.
• At the top tap about to go back a screen then tap Software Update , the iPad will check the and offer install for a newer version - if available tap Install Now.  The iPad will reboot to apply the update, you may see the apple logo several times. You should have your iPad plugged in while updating, ideally with 50% charge on your battery.

The minimum supported version for iReady/iStation to install and run is iOS 12.x.  If the iPad is on an older version of iOS, and an update is NOT available please contact the students home school for a replacement device.  

Apps Are Missing or Showing as "Waiting"

When an iPad is sent a command to install an app from Mosyle (our management tool), it can get stuck as "Waiting", as in "Waiting for the download to start". The iPad, at this point, can accidentally report back that the app is installing, and Mosyle cannot restart the installation. This is usually caused by an unstable internet connection while attempting to install the app. The app needs to be manually removed and then reinstalled. Due to the restrictions in place on student devices, there are only two ways to accomplish this:

1. Longer wait time: Submit a help desk ticket with the student's name and/or the iPad's serial number. Our Apple Support team will send commands to remotely move the app and then send a fresh command to install.
2. Easiest method: Reset the iPad to Factory Settings - This will clear all apps off and then automatically reinstall the apps once you have completed the simple setup process.

Resetting an iPad to Factory Defaults

If you are still having issues with your iPad after going through the above troubleshooting steps, please try resetting your iPad to factory defaults using the directions here:

Reset an iPad to Factory Defaults and Enroll into Mosyle (Click Here)

Note: The iPad will be completely wiped through this process. Since most educational apps are web based and will not have data stored on the device, there should be no issues. All apps will be reinstalled automatically.

Assigning an iPad

By default, all iPads are assigned a set of restrictive profiles that prevents students from making key changes to the iPad. This applies to iPads assigned to a student, to a shared cart, or devices that have not been assigned at all. If you are a teacher, you may have up to 2 devices assigned to you in order to remove these profiles.

• Student iPads -  Please see your school's technology coordinator to have your iPad assigned to you in Mosyle.
• Shared iPad Carts - Please see your school's teacher/technology coordinator.
• Teacher iPads - Submit a help desk ticket with the serial number to have the iPad assigned to you. Once the iPad has been assigned, the profiles will be removed automatically.

Finding the Serial Number:

If none of these steps help contact Support@BoiseSchools.org or 208-854-6670.