SkieWhat does freezing an organisation do?
Freezing an organisation blocks new provisioning, so no new device can be enrolled into it until the freeze is lifted. Devices already managed keep working under their current rules. Use it if you suspect someone is trying to enrol devices they should not, or while you tidy up your seats and licences.
Enrolment is the door into your organisation. Each device is given a one-time enrolment token, passes a model and licence check, and takes up a seat. If you ever suspect that door is being misused, you want to close it without disturbing the devices already in use.
The freeze switch does that. While it is on, new provisioning is blocked. Devices that are already managed continue as before: their rules, schedules and filters stay in force, and students and staff notice nothing. When you are ready, you lift the freeze and provisioning works again.
Reasons to use it vary. A technician's laptop has gone missing and you want to be sure no one uses it to enrol devices. Seat numbers look wrong and you want to stop new enrolments while you check. A licence is changing and you would rather not have devices being added halfway through. In each case a freeze is a calm, reversible step compared with a lock.
It is different from locking. Lock stops devices being used; freeze stops devices being added. For the first, see lock all devices at once. Licences are seat-based, with one device per seat, and identity recognition by IMEI or serial means a reset device does not take a second seat.
Freezing is recorded in the audit log. Practical tip: freeze before a big internal change, such as moving to a new structure of branches, so the pace of provisioning does not complicate it. If you are mid-rollout, see how to provision Android devices at scale.