Pairing: "The pairing between <device> and this computer is prohibited by its supervisor."

When connecting a supervised iOS or iPadOS device to iMazing, you may encounter this error:

"The pairing between {device name} and this computer is prohibited by its supervisor. Please import the supervising organization in iMazing's library to manage this device."

This error occurs because the device is configured to pair only with computers on which the supervising organization identity is present. The solution is to import the supervising organization in iMazing, or create an organization from the supervising identity (.p12 or .pfx file).

Locate the supervising identity

Devices supervised via MDM

The sys admin who configured the Automated Device Enrollment may have added a supervising host certificate to the enrollment profile (ADE/DEP). MDMs label this property differently: Supervising Host Certificates and Supervision Hosts are two common names. Try to export the supervising identity as .p12 or .pfx file (the certificate with its private key) and import it in iMazing. Contact your MDM vendor for help if needed.

If no certificate was configured but the ADE/DEP profile has a property allow_pairing set to false, it is not possible to connect already enrolled devices to iMazing, Apple Configurator, Finder, or iTunes. Your options are:

• Re-enroll the devices with the appropriate configuration (devices must be erased first).
• Disable the restriction that prevents pairing in your MDM. See 3. Update your MDM configuration to allow pairing below.

Devices supervised locally

The admin who configured supervision must have created or imported a supervising organization in iMazing or Apple Configurator. The organization can be exported from either application and re-imported. See Import the supervising identity in iMazing for details.

If you cannot locate the organization or the supervision certificate, you will need to erase and reconfigure the device before pairing. Backing up to iCloud is the only valid strategy to preserve data in that case.

Import the supervising identity in iMazing

Follow section 3 of the Managing supervised devices guide.

To export the organization from Apple Configurator first, refer to Apple's guide on organization preferences in Apple Configurator 2.

Update MDM configuration to allow pairing

Pairing can be restricted in two ways:

• At enrollment time with Automated Device Enrollment (for devices registered in Apple Business), by setting Allow Pairing = false in the ADE/DEP enrollment profile (deprecated in iOS 13, but still widely used).
• Dynamically after enrollment, via the Restrictions payload configuration profile. Most MDMs expose this setting in a section labelled Restrictions.

If pairing is restricted at enrollment time via Automated Device Enrollment with a ADE/DEP profile that has a property allow_pairing set to false, the restriction is permanent and cannot be overridden dynamically. The only option is to erase and re-enroll the devices with the correct configuration. Backing up to iCloud is a valid data preservation strategy in that case.

If pairing is only restricted dynamically via an installed Restrictions configuration property: allowHostPairing, you can disable it in your MDM. The device will accept pairing with any computer once it receives the updated configuration.

4. Further reading

• Managing pairing in Apple deployments, Apple Support
• iMazing Configurator Overview - Organizations, iMazing documentation
• Connect your device to iMazing & pair it with your computer - Supervision Prohibited Pairing, iMazing documentation
• Supervision, MDM, and restricted pairing in iMazing, iMazing documentation