Overview

The Apple Interface Controls Policy locks a few user-facing features on managed Macs, iPhones, and iPads. You can:

turn off Game Center, or keep it and block adding friends or multiplayer games
stop users from changing the device name
stop users from changing the Mac's startup disk

All settings are on by default. A new policy with no changes doesn't restrict anything.

Important: On iPhone and iPad, these settings work only on supervised devices. Unsupervised iPhones and iPads ignore every setting in this policy. On Macs, supervision isn't required.

Supported platforms and requirements

Item	Details
Platforms	macOS, iOS, iPadOS
Minimum OS	macOS 10.13, iOS 4.1, iPadOS 4.1 (device name and startup disk settings need macOS 14)
Device ownership	Company-owned devices
Supervision	Required on iPhone and iPad. Devices are supervised when enrolled through Automated Device Enrollment or prepared with Apple Configurator.
Shared iPad	Ignores Allow Game Center.
User Enrollment (BYOD)	Not supported. Apple doesn't allow these restrictions on User Enrollment.

Settings reference

Game Center

Setting	What it does when turned off	Default	Platforms and minimum OS	Supervised
Allow Game Center	Turns off Game Center and removes its icon.	On	macOS 10.13, iOS/iPadOS 6.0	Required
Allow Adding Game Center Friends	Users can't add Game Center friends. Shown only while Allow Game Center is on.	On	macOS 10.13, iOS/iPadOS 4.2.1	Required on iOS 13 and later
Allow Multiplayer Gaming	Users can't play multiplayer games. Shown only while Allow Game Center is on.	On	macOS 10.13, iOS/iPadOS 4.1	Required

When Allow Game Center is off, Game Center isn't available at all, so Swif hides the other two settings. To keep Game Center but limit its social features, leave Allow Game Center on and turn off either of them.

Device

Setting	What it does when turned off	Default	Platforms and minimum OS	Supervised
Allow Device Name Modification	Users can't change the device name.	On	macOS 14, iOS/iPadOS 9.0	Required
Allow Startup Disk Modification	Users can't change Startup Disk in System Settings.	On	macOS 14	—

Turning off Allow Device Name Modification helps keep the device names you assign consistent in Swif's inventory. Set the names you want before you apply the policy.

Using this policy with other Swif policies

Allow Game Center and Allow Adding Game Center Friends also appear in the Apple Application Access Policy. How Apple handles conflicts depends on the platform:

iPhone and iPad: the most restrictive value wins.
Mac: when two profiles set the same restriction to different values, the result is undefined.

Manage Game Center in only one policy per device.

Before you start

Check supervision for iPhones and iPads.
Check macOS versions. Macs before macOS 14 ignore the device name and startup disk settings.
Set device names first if you plan to lock them.
Check for overlapping policies that also manage Game Center.

Create the policy

In Swif, go to Device Management > Policies > New Policy.
Select Apple Interface Controls Policy.
Enter a clear name, such as Interface Controls – Company Devices.
Turn off the settings you want to restrict. The two Game Center sub-settings appear only while Allow Game Center is on.
Save the policy.
Assign it to a device group.
Test on a few devices before a wider rollout.

Example configurations

Example 1: Company Macs and supervised iPhones

Setting	Value
Allow Game Center	Off
Allow Device Name Modification	Off
Allow Startup Disk Modification	Off
All other settings	Defaults

Game Center is turned off, device names stay as assigned, and users can't boot Macs from another disk.

Example 2: School iPads with Game Center for learning games

Setting	Value
Allow Game Center	On
Allow Adding Game Center Friends	Off
Allow Multiplayer Gaming	Off
Allow Device Name Modification	Off

Students can use Game Center for single-player games but can't add friends or play with others.

Example 3: Lab Macs

Setting	Value
Allow Startup Disk Modification	Off
Allow Device Name Modification	Off
All other settings	Defaults

Verify the policy

iPhone or iPad

Go to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management, open the Swif profile, and confirm that it lists Restrictions.
If Allow Device Name Modification is off, go to Settings > General > About and confirm that you can't change the name.
If Allow Game Center is off, confirm that Game Center settings are unavailable.

Mac

Open System Settings > General > Device Management and open the Swif profile. Confirm that the restrictions appear.
If Allow Startup Disk Modification is off, open System Settings > General > Startup Disk and confirm that you can't change it.
If Allow Device Name Modification is off, confirm that the name can't be changed in System Settings > General > About or Sharing.

In Swif, open the device and confirm that the policy shows as applied.

Troubleshooting

Nothing changes on an iPhone or iPad

The device isn't supervised. All settings in this policy require supervision on iPhone and iPad.

Device name or startup disk settings don't apply on a Mac

Check that the Mac runs macOS 14 or later.

Users can still add Game Center friends on an iPhone

On iOS 13 and later, this setting requires supervision.

Game Center is still available on a Shared iPad

Shared iPad ignores Allow Game Center.

A Mac behaves inconsistently for Game Center

Another policy, such as the Application Access Policy, may set the same restriction differently. Manage Game Center in one policy only.

Nothing applies on a personal device

User Enrollment doesn't support these restrictions.

Related resources

Swif

Apple