Exchange 2013 settings for Ipad using conference room app

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I've been having issues getting these ipads working to our liking in our environment. First of all, we are using an app that syncs calendar with exchange and each ipad has an email address setup that 've configured as a room. It works great but I have a single issue that is bugging us and I cannot figure it out.

We want the screens on 24x7 without any pin or password. Basically disable the pin code or password completely for these devices so we can set the screen sleep to it's 'never' setting.

Where and how do I do this in Exchange? I know Exchange is where this needs to be done but I'm not 100% sure what to do or where to change it. Any help would be appreciated.

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blaughw On

I think you are really asking an iPad question, more than an Exchange ActiveSync question.

In iPad Settings > General > Guided Access, you can enable a "kiosk mode". Apple just calls it Guided Access, but what you're effectively doing is locking the tablet to a single application. With the feature turned on, triple click the Home button to lock the application. You can configure a PIN to release Guided Access, or rely on the obscurity of the triple click to unlock the device.


As for ActiveSync, you should create a new ActiveSync policy and assign it to the room mailboxes. Normally a room mailbox account is disabled, but I would imagine your solution gets around that issue.

Creating a new policy can be accomplished in the Office 365 Exchange Admin Center, under Mobile > Mobile Device Mailbox Policies. Click the Plus [+] to create a new policy, give it a name, and configure options. I would advise against not requiring a password. You can leave the "Require sign-in after the device has been inactive for X minutes" option, and I think that will allow you to set the auto-lock to Never.

Finally, I suggest you audit usage of this ActiveSync policy, since it is less restrictive than normal.

You can also create and modify ActiveSync policies using Powershell, using New/Get/Set-MobileDeviceMailboxPolicy. Get and Set-MobileDeviceMailboxPolicy is going to be useful for enumerating some of the more obscure settings and requirements, you might find something useful.