SkieDo Wi-Fi only tablets work with Skie, or does every tablet need a SIM?
Wi-Fi only tablets work with Skie, and no SIM is needed. Provisioning, policy, app control, the web filter and most other features run over Wi-Fi. Skie does not include a mobile plan or SIM. Features that rely on mobile data, such as tracking away from Wi-Fi, depend on the connection the tablet has.
A school buying cheaper tablets for a classroom set usually picks Wi-Fi only models. That is fine. Skie needs the device to reach the internet to be provisioned and to sync, and Wi-Fi does that. There is no requirement for a SIM in each tablet.
Almost everything works as normal. Provisioning runs over Wi-Fi. Policy, app lists and schedules sync over Wi-Fi. The filtering DNS is locked on the device, so it applies on any Wi-Fi the tablet joins. The rules are cached on the device and keep working offline, and offline mode ends on its own when a network returns.
The honest limits come from the hardware. A tablet with no mobile data is only visible to the dashboard when it is on Wi-Fi, so a tablet taken home to a house with no Wi-Fi is quiet until it connects. Location updates arrive when the device is online, and for a lost tablet this means tracking resumes as soon as someone connects it to a network. Calls and SMS do not apply to a tablet without a SIM.
If you want presence more often, set the sync and check-in thresholds that suit your setting, such as Due, Overdue and Offline unusual, and an exemption for battery optimisation is used so the background service keeps running.
Practical tip: pilot a few Wi-Fi only tablets in the real environment, including a home Wi-Fi if tablets go home. See offline behaviour and Wi-Fi profiles and phones and tablets.
- No SIM needed
- Provisioning and sync work on Wi-Fi
- Rules work offline once cached
- Skie does not supply SIMs or plans