Meraki MDM and iOS 9.3.1 – “App Already Scheduled For Management” Error Message

We kept getting this message on two out of five iPads recently, first with iOS 9.2.1. We updated to 9.3.1, same issue. We’ve had this “App Already Scheduled For Management” message come up in the Event Log and Activity Log in the dashboard, on each individual device page.

There were some unique symptoms this time around:

1. The app would get prompted for an Install, we’d tap that Trust/Install button
2. Immediately after, iOS would prompt us for an App Store / iTunes login
3. We’d cancel, as we’ve done lots of times in the past
4. our MDM app published for enterprise distribution would start installation and quick shortly after, giving a generic “unable to install right now” message.

Note – I was working with a buddy who was located remotely, so I had to rely on them telling me what their screen looks like and what the messages are, etc. I didn’t have the privilege of looking at the device as I’m trying to “Re-push to all”, “Re-push to missing” from the Systems Manager app page or “Update” or “Install” from each registered device’s page.

Usually, clicking “cancel” on the iTunes / App Store login works just fine.

This time, it turns out the remotely located buddy / their teammate started creating the iTunes / App Store account but didn’t finish. So, they created the user name and login but didn’t click through all of the “Agree” type fine print pages in the sign up process. As a result, I’m guessing iOS disabled the ability to install ANY and ALL apps, until this unfinished iTunes process was completed.

Sure enough, after the remotely located employee re-logged into iTunes/App Store and finished that sign up process, our enterprise MDM app managed via Meraki’s Systems Manager installed within a few minutes, after I re-pushed it.