SkieWhy does a device need a factory reset before Skie can manage it?
Android only lets an app become the device owner on a device that has not been set up yet. A reset puts the device back to that first-boot state. Without it, Skie cannot take the control level that makes its rules enforced by Android itself, so a reset is required once per device.
Device owner is the strongest management role on Android. It lets one app control installs, accounts, factory reset, safe mode, networking and much more. Because of that, Google only allows an app to take the role while the device has no user data and no accounts, which means during first setup.
This is an Android rule, not a Skie preference. Every serious Android management product that uses device owner mode has the same condition. Products that skip the reset fall back to a lighter role, such as a work profile or a device administrator app, and a lighter role leaves more for a determined user to work around.
In practice, the steps are short. Back up whatever the user needs, factory reset the device from Settings or the recovery menu, and at the first welcome screen go forward without adding a Google account. Then provision. If a device has already been set up and has a Google account on it, the reset has to happen first, whatever the model.
A reset is needed once. After Skie is the device owner, replacing a battery, updating Android or moving the device to another student does not need another reset. Moving a device between students is a reassign in the dashboard.
Practical tip: for a fleet, reset in batches and leave the devices at the welcome screen on a charger. Then provision them one by one. Read why the Google account must be skipped next, because that is the step people most often get wrong.
- Device owner can only be set on a fresh device
- A reset is needed once per device
- Back up first, because a reset removes everything
- Reassigning later does not need a reset