App won't Install with Apple Configurator

Recently at work we had the need to provision roughly ten iPads in a secure way for a single app usage scenario.

I was making good progress using Apple Configurator (AC) to lock down the iPad. Then all of the sudden my app wouldn’t install on the iPad, despite being very clearly checked on the App tab of the AC interface.

This was especially troubling because it had worked just the day before.

After some looking around I found the culprit. Due to my over zealousness I i had changed a very innocuous feature that prevented any apps from being installed, even ones I specified in AC.

The offending setting is configured in the Restrictions payload, under the Media Content section there is a drown down for App ratings. A quick and naive reading of that section might think that is just for downloading apps; however it will also block AC from installing them as well.

Changing the setting back to Allow All Apps and a quick refresh in AC later and my app appeared as expected.

I am OK leaving this setting as it because there is another setting under the Apps tab that disables the App Store altogether. When enabled the App Store icon doesn’t even appear on the device.