Apple Silicon Mac Mini Support

Created: Modified: Knowledge Base

GroundControl Launchpads fully support Apple Silicon Macs. However, we found an issue that may impact these systems.

Known Issue

When attaching many iOS devices at once to a Silicon Mac — for example when a USB hub is power cycled or unplugged and replugged — some iOS devices may not connect to GroundControl. Corresponding LEDs with devices in this state will also be off. However, these iOS devices will appear in About This Mac > System Report > USB > USB Device Tree.

  • This issue does not affect Intel Macs.
  • We have not observed an issue when iOS devices are attached one-by-one.

Reconnecting the affected iOS devices one at a time reestablishes the connection to GroundControl.

Both GroundControl and Apple Configurator are impacted, as well as both Datamation UniDocks and Imprivata Bretford PowerSync Pro v2 units. This issue has been reported to Apple via Feedback ID FB9053004.

Datamation and Bretford have introduced firmware updates which makes this issue less frequent, by staggering USB connections, reducing the impact of devices that may end up in this state. However, the updates are not complete fixes. We believe a true fix must be delivered by Apple.

Action Required if using Silicon Macs
  • Datamation UniDocks: units running firmware version 1.84 or earlier will require an upgrade to latest firmware version
  • Bretford PowerSync Pro v2: units running firmware version 2.2 or earlier will require a firmware upgrade to version 2.2.1 or later. Units shipped on or October 19th 2021 include version 2.2.1. Units can be identified by the serial number, which uses a date convention to identify shipped date, for example, SN starting with 20211… would indicate a ship date of November, 2021.

The Launchpad also reports connected Smart Hubs and their current firmware version. This data can be exported from the Admin Console.

For additional assistance, contact Imprivata Support.