iPhones in business: How to set restrictions on devices provided to employees I was recently able to use an iPhone supplied by a tech startup to one of its affiliates. The phone had limited apps, several disabled settings, and no icon for the App Store among its restrictions. The device Restrictions feature in Settings was set to Off (it was not being used). The iPhone was essentially set up to serve as a tool for affiliates to use in their work and nothing more.

How can a company that wants to provide employees or affiliates with iPhones strictly for limited business work set similar restrictions as those set by the startup? Are there specific tools available to make this happen short of compromising the device's security settings?

Related: As part of your answer, please feel free to comment on similarities and differences to Android devices if you have a broad knowledge of this topic.
Apple Configurator can be used to configure devices in various ways including restricting apps, features and connectivity.

Payloads can be configured in these profiles that customise the device in various ways, such as pre-configuring certain settings or restricting functionality.



These profiles are by default able to be removed at any time, however they can be set to only allow removal with authorisation, or never.



These .mobileconfig files can be installed on a device simply by downloading them through Safari, or can be installed over USB to the device.