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iPhone Configuration Utility
iPhone Configuration Utility (iPCU) is a tool for managing iPads, iPhones and iPod touches in corporate environments. It offers the following features:
- Creating, editing and installing configuration profiles
- Installing provisioning profiles
- Installing unpacked .app bundles (without IPA container)
- Viewing syslog of the connected device
Configuration Profiles
Configuration profile is a set of restrictions and/or settings that allow the device to work with corporate infrastructure and conform to the established IT policy. It can include email and Exchange accounts, Wi-Fi settings, digital certificates, passcode lock and password complexity requirements, etc.
For normal folks a feature of interest might be the ability to set custom APN (if their carrier bundle doesn't allow it to be changed in Settings) and configure proxy for cellular data. This may be necessary to get internet access on certain carriers without data plan.
Historically, configuration profiles were used by sites such as help.benm.at to enable tethering on carriers which did not support it officially.
Certificate Installation
On first launch iPCU creates a self-signed certificate in the Mac OS X keychain or Windows certificate store (run certmgr.msc and navigate to "ipcu" to view it). This certificate is then silently installed onto any iDevice that is connected to iPCU, and cannot be removed. Configuration profiles that are subsequently installed are signed with this certificate, which allows iDevices to validate profile authenticity.
Available platforms
Apple officially maintains the MAC OS X and Windows version of iPCU app. A third party developer has developed an iOS version of the App that can configure and distribute provisioning profiles from an iPhone or iPad. The advantage of using the iOS app is an IT administrator can easily preconfigure a profile for his/her co-workers and distribute the profile within the enterprise network through Email, Web server or Dropbox. The iOS App also includes an SMS notification feature. Installing a provisioning profile for enterprise users is as easy as a single tap on the attachment when distributed via Email or a single tap on the Web or Dropbox link included in the SMS when distributed through FTP or Dropbox.
