Why Use MDM with Playlister?

Manually activating one or two Apple TVs is simple enough. But most churches find they need screens in more places than they initially expect — lobbies, worship centers, kids check-in, hallways, classrooms, café areas, and welcome centers. Once you're managing 10+ screens across your campus, activating and maintaining them one by one becomes a burden.

MDM auto-activation lets you deploy all your screens at once. Churches like Life.Church, Lakepointe, and Fellowship Greenville use this approach to manage screens across multiple rooms and campuses — some with 50+ Apple TVs activated in a single afternoon.

Using a Managed App Configuration Plist, Playlister can auto-activate screens. It does this by cross-referencing an Activation Key and the device Serial Number.

Planning Your Deployment

Walk your campus and count every spot where a visitor, volunteer, or staff member looks for information. Most churches discover 10-15 locations immediately. A typical setup:

• Lobby & Welcome Center — 2-3 screens
   
• Worship Center — 1-2 screens
   
• Kids & Youth Areas — 2-4 screens (this is where Recurring Availability shines — multiple ministries, one screen)
   
• Hallways & Common Areas — 3-5 screens
   
• Café / Gathering Spaces — 1-2 screens

Starting with 10 Apple TVs gives you enough coverage to see the full impact across your campus.

💡 You can get your Activation Key from Playlister Support.

Auto Activation

Any Unactivated Screens with a valid Managed App Configuration will automatically be activated. If a default name is supplied, the Screen in Playlister will use this name.

💡 Activated screens will not be renamed

Identification

Playlister requires that the Managed App Configuration contains the device's Serial Number. This is used to ensure that the Apple TV will stay activated through OS updates and system resets.

💡 If supplied, the Screens Asset Tag will be displayed in the Playlister Screen Manager.

Managed App Configuration Plist

<dict>
	<key>app.playlister.activation-key</key>
	<string>ACTIVATION KEY HERE</string>

	<key>app.playlister.serial</key>
	<string>%SerialNumber%</string>

	<key>app.playlister.asset-tag</key>
	<string>%AssetTag%</string>

	<key>app.playlister.default-name</key>
	<string>Screen Name - %AssetTag%</string>

</dict>

1. Replace ACTIVATION KEY HERE with your Account Activation Key
2. If not using Mosyle replace %SerialNumber% with the AppleTV’s Serial Number.
3. If not using Mosyle, replace %AssetTag% with AppleTV’s Asset Tag

   1. If you do not wish to use Asset Tags, remove these 2 lines

      	<key>app.playlister.asset-tag</key>
      	<string>%AssetTag%</string>
      

4. Replace Screen Name - %AssetTag% with the default name for the Screen

   1. If you do not wish to set a default name to remove these two lines

      	<key>app.playlister.default-name</key>
      	<string>Screen Name - %AssetTag%</string>
      

Naming Tip: Use a consistent naming convention in your default-name field so screens are easy to identify in Playlister's Screen Manager. For example:

Lobby - Main Entrance
Kids - Room 204
Worship - Stage Left

This saves your team time every time they schedule content or troubleshoot a screen.

Jamf Example

<dict>
	<key>app.playlister.activation-key</key>
	<string>ACTIVATION KEY HERE</string>
	<key>app.playlister.serial</key>
	<string>$SERIALNUMBER</string>
	<key>app.playlister.asset-tag</key>
	<string>$ASSET_TAG</string>
	<key>app.playlister.default-name</key>
	<string>$DEVICENAME</string>
</dict>