Use case · Mac fleet refresh
Refresh 200 Macs without losing a quarter
A typical Mac refresh is six MDM tickets per device, a white-glove session per user, and a week of cleanup. shft collapses that into a flow your users can run themselves on a Tuesday afternoon.
The pain of doing it by hand
Apple Migration Assistant assumes one user, one personal Mac, no MDM in the picture. The moment you have managed accounts with renamed usernames, a different MDM identity, or any audit requirement, you’re back to scripts, screen sharing, and tickets.
The cost is real. At 200 devices, even an optimistic 45 minutes of IT time per migration is 150 hours — most of a quarter for a single admin, all of it visible to leadership as “why is IT slow this month?”
What shft does instead
- Detects the MDM-managed account on the destination Mac and maps the source user to it — no manual rename, no half-broken paths in app preferences.
- Ships via PKG through your existing MDM. Configuration profile preloads the license so end users see a clean Welcome screen.
- Self-serve for the user. IT doesn’t need to be on the call, on a Bomgar session, or in the room.
- Per-device migration log goes wherever you want it. Useful for SOC 2 evidence, change management, and the inevitable “did this Mac get refreshed?” question.
How a refresh flows with shft
- 1
Push shft via MDM
Upload the signed PKG to Jamf, Kandji, Mosyle, or Intune. Bundle the configuration profile so end users never see a license prompt.
- 2
Enroll the destination Mac
DEP/ADE flow runs as usual. Managed user account is created. shft sees the managed identity and remembers it.
- 3
User pairs the old Mac
On the old Mac, the user runs shft and reads out a six-character code. On the new Mac, they enter it. Pairing is done in seconds.
- 4
Pick categories, hit go
Default selections are sensible. Users can drop categories they don't need (Music library, browser history). Transfer runs over Thunderbolt or LAN.
- 5
IT gets the log
Per-device JSON log lands in your collection bucket: file counts, durations, conflicts, engineering-tools manifest. Audit trail done.
Price out a refresh
IT Pro Packs scale with your fleet. 10 migrations for $199, 50 for $649, custom pricing past that. Credits never expire — buy a pack now, use it across this refresh and the next one.