Deploying Model Communicator

What an IT department needs to put the app on school iPads and Chromebooks.

At a glance

Model Communicator is free on every platform, with no seat count and no ads. The iPad app needs no account and no network connection.

Item	iPad app	Chrome extension and web app
Where it comes from	App Store	Chrome Web Store, or any browser at modelcommunicator.com/app
Identifier	App Store ID `6806084436` Bundle ID `com.modelcommunicator.app`	Extension ID `aclidjfnklhmcbmakcjaahoegehdeihf`
Cost and licensing	Free. Available in Apps and Books with device-based assignment, so no Apple Account is needed on the iPad.	Free. No license to manage.
Requirements	iPad with iPadOS 17.0 or later. About 170 MB.	Chrome or ChromeOS. The extension is Manifest V3.
Permissions	Camera and microphone, only when an adult adds a photo or records a sound for a tile. Both are optional.	The extension requests `storage` only. It has no access to web pages, tabs or browsing history.
Network	None after installation. Boards, symbols, voices and word prediction are all inside the app.	See Network requirements.
Accounts and data	No account. Nothing leaves the iPad.	No account needed to communicate. Optional sign-in adds cloud sync and Studio.

Choose your platform

iPad: get free licenses in Apple School Manager

Every MDM installs App Store apps the same way: you claim licenses in Apple School Manager (or Apple Business Manager), and the MDM assigns them to devices. The app is free, so this costs nothing.

Sign in to Apple School Manager as a Content Manager or Administrator.
Open Apps and Books and search for Model Communicator. The seller is Model Communicator LLC.
Under Buy Licenses, choose the location whose content token your MDM uses, enter a quantity and click Get.
Wait a few minutes, or run a sync in your MDM. The app then appears in the MDM's list of volume-purchased apps.

Tip: Claim more licenses than you need today. They are free, and it saves a trip back when another student needs the app.

If your MDM has never been connected to Apps and Books, download the content token in Apple School Manager under your account name, then Preferences → Payments and Billing → Apps and Books → Content Tokens, and upload it in the MDM. A token belongs to one MDM at a time and expires after a year.

iPad: keep the device in the app

There are two dependable ways to stop a communicator from leaving the app. Pick by who should be in control.

Method	Who starts it	Needs	Best for
Guided Access	An adult, with a triple-click of the top button	Nothing. Works on any iPad.	Family iPads, unmanaged devices, and shared classroom iPads that are only sometimes an AAC device. Steps are in iPad settings.
Single App Mode	IT, by assigning a profile	A supervised iPad	A dedicated communication device that should never show anything else.

Heads up: An iPad in Single App Mode cannot update any app, including this one. Remove the profile during a break a few times a year, let updates install, and assign it again.

Good to know: Do not add com.modelcommunicator.app to an Autonomous Single App Mode allowlist yet. Version 0.9 of the app can start that kind of lock on a supervised iPad but has no control to end it. Use Single App Mode or Guided Access until an update adds one.

Teachers using Apple Classroom or a classroom tool in your MDM can also lock a student iPad into an app for a lesson. That is fine for a class period. It is not a substitute for the options above on a student's own communication device.

iPad: where boards are stored

Everything a team customizes (edited tiles, photos, recorded sounds, new pages, profiles) is stored inside the app on that iPad. There is no cloud copy. This keeps student data off the network, and it means IT actions can destroy work.

Before you wipe, re-enroll or replace an iPad, have the team make a backup file. Back up your boards explains how, and Restore moves them to the new device.
Removing the app removes its data. Be careful with scopes that uninstall apps when a device leaves a group.
Do not use Apple's Shared iPad mode for AAC users. Shared iPad clears local app data when it removes a cached user. The app has its own profiles (up to eight) for sharing one iPad between students.
Restrictions that switch off features: blocking the camera removes photo tiles, and blocking the microphone removes recorded sounds. Everything else keeps working.

Network requirements

iPad app: none once installed. It works in airplane mode. The only links out are two feedback forms in Settings, which open in the browser.

Chrome extension and web app: allow these in your content filter and firewall.

Host	Used for
`modelcommunicator.com`	The app, the board, the MoCo Child voice files and this website
`tapspeaksymbols.blob.core.windows.net`	Symbol images
`clerk.modelcommunicator.com` `postgrest.agreeabledune-9e69003b.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io`	Optional sign-in, cloud sync and Studio. Not needed to communicate.

After the first visit the web app keeps an offline copy in the browser. See Using the web app without internet for what clears it.

Privacy and compliance

The iPad app collects no data. No platform records what a communicator says. Details for your review are on the Privacy and Compliance pages. If your district needs a data privacy agreement or a vendor questionnaire completed, contact us.