Ending support for Setup Assistant (legacy) authentication method in ADE for iOS/iPadOS and macOS

Intune will end support for Setup Assistant (legacy) authentication in iOS/iPadOS and macOS ADE with the October 2610 release, replacing it with Setup Assistant using modern authentication for improved security. Existing devices remain enrolled; profiles will auto-update, but reviewing and testing updates is recommended.

Expected with Intune’s October (2610) service release, to help improve security and align with modern authentication standards, Intune is ending support for the Setup Assistant (legacy) authentication method for iOS/iPadOS and macOS Automated Device Enrollment (ADE) with user device affinity. This legacy method does not support multifactor authentication or Conditional Access and has been superseded by Setup Assistant with modern authentication, which provides a more secure and seamless enrollment experience for devices enrolling through ADE with user affinity. 

[How this will affect your organization:]

There is no impact to existing devices, they will remain enrolled.

All existing ADE enrollment profiles with user affinity that use Setup Assistant (legacy) will be automatically updated to use Setup Assistant with modern authentication. The Setup Assistant (legacy) authentication option will be removed from the creation and edit experience for new ADE enrollment profiles.

[What you need to do to prepare:]

Review your iOS/iPadOS and macOS ADE enrollment profiles in the Intune admin center to understand which profiles currently use Setup Assistant (legacy). We recommend updating your enrollment profiles to use Setup Assistant with modern authentication and testing it in your environment. If no action is taken, these profiles will be automatically updated as part of this change. 

Learn more about using Setup Assistant with modern authentication to provide the most secure and best enrollment experience for ADE devices for iOS/iPadOS and macOS in this blog: Transforming the iOS/iPadOS ADE experience in Microsoft Intune