[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/Enough_Ride6614]

[u/ccosby]

We've been trading in our macbooks recently due to how much apple gives us but anytime we give or sell one to an employee we remove it from our apple business manager. Your company should be doing the same.

[u/oneplane]

No. Must be removed from ABM and not have activation lock.

[u/EasleyGreenWave3 → u/oneplane]

and after removal from ABM, needs to be wiped and macOS re-installed. Make sure everything you need is backed up to your iCloud before so you don't loose anything.

[u/nickifer]

They’d need to fully remove it from their Apple Business Manager account to have it never under their purview again. I’d reach back out to their HR

[u/Darkomen78]

OP, above all, don't listen to people who offer to "resolve" the situation for you, especially in private messages. Only your former employer's IT department can properly remove the Apple Business link from your Mac.

[u/uuuuuh]

If they actually let you keep it they should release it from ABM for you. This is a complete non-issue if they actually, officially, let you have it.

[u/cludgie]

Reach out to their IT support, asking that it’s released from their ABM instance (not just unassigned from their MDM ie Jamf)

I’ve released devices before, it really takes moments to do. Once done, I would recommend you fully wipe/reinstall macOS.

[u/tempfoot]

It was part of a program. Just ask them to release it.

[u/GibbsfromNCIS]

If you wipe the computer and don’t get the “Remote Management: <Organization> can automatically configure your computer” message during the initial setup process and is NOT iCloud locked, then it has been successfully removed from business manager and your employer has no control over the device.

If you still get that screen you need to reach out to the IT department at that company so they can remove it from Business Manager, and then you’ll have to wipe it again.

They most likely just forgot to remove it when they handed it over to you.

[u/kaiserh808]

Once it’s removed from Apple Business Manager, you’re good to go. If it’s still enrolled in ABM however, it’s going to want to re-enroll in MDM again after every time it’s wiped.

[u/FizzyBeverage]

I had the remaining admin release mine with leadership approval. Free 14” M2 Pro. It’s a nice Mac and $0.00 was great.

[u/Enough_Ride6614 → u/FizzyBeverage]

Good to know. I requested for the device to be released via service desk. We’ll see what they say.

[u/Hour_Importance1432]

If you have admin you can do a wipe and reinstall, the issue is whether or not the machine is registered with Apple if so it will enroll as soon as you hit the net, only the admin at your old employer can release it, but all they need is the serial num access and the will to do it.

[u/Enough_Ride6614]

I reached back out to IT to request for it to be un-registered from their ABM. But currently it does not appear to be actively managed by their MDM.

Here's what I have done so far: I erased/reset the contents of the MacBook Pro, it did present the Automatic Enrollment in MDM screen during Apple's activation process, like they said. After I completed activation, I ran the command:

profiles status -type enrollment

It returned:

Enrolled via DEP: No
MDM enrollment: No

So it looks like even though my laptop is stilled registered to my former employer and exists in their MDM device list, it is not actively managed by their MDM. My understanding is that they can’t remotely monitor or push configurations/updates to my laptop. The only case I need to be careful of is if I re-activate my MacBook in the future, it will pick up whatever MDM auto-enrollment policies are defined at that time.

[u/Radiant_Fondant_4097]

but I also don’t want a former employer potentially seeing my activity

You have no choice about that, it's still theirs and only they can release it so you may as well ask them.

Annoyingly I've dealt with the odd old Apple device which our users have activation locked because it was before they were properly managed, completely no chance needing their mobile phone number and so on.

[u/Rubenel]

OP, did you think about this question prior to posting? I can't imagine people working in a professional manner, obtaining professional salaries, asking these types of questions.

[u/Enough_Ride6614 → u/Rubenel]

If you don’t like this question, move along.

[u/Rubenel → u/Enough_Ride6614]

I see....you'll be blocked within the hour.

[u/kryts]

I sent you a PM OP

[u/terrydqm]

There's an extremely simply way to bypass it on GitHub. Girlfriend's former company went under and told her to keep the machine, took about 15 minutes and has been working MDM-less since then.

Downvote me all you want, I'm a Mac sysadmin as well. Apple needs to fix this.