This guide will help you diagnose and resolve the most common issues when deploying Goodnotes via MDM with a License Key.
Technical Deployment Issues
The plist file won't upload or the configuration fails
If your MDM is rejecting the plist file or showing configuration errors, start by pasting the plist code directly into the editor instead of uploading it as a file. Sometimes file encoding causes issues that don't appear when you paste the code directly. If that doesn't work, try using Variant 3 of the plist format, which is the shortest and tends to work with more MDM platforms.
Make sure to use a plain text editor to avoid hidden characters that can slip in from word processors. Also, different MDM platforms use different terminology—if you can't find "Managed Configuration," look for:
- App Configuration
- Custom Settings
- Application Config
- Managed App Config
Configuration changes aren't pushing to devices
When you've updated the plist but devices aren't receiving the new configuration, try these steps:
- Force a sync from your MDM console rather than waiting for the scheduled check-in
- Have users restart their devices
- Verify affected devices are properly enrolled in your MDM
- Check MDM logs for push notification failures
Report to Goodnotes with: MDM logs showing successful push but License Key still not activating—this suggests a different kind of issue.
Network and Connectivity Issues
License Key validation fails intermittently
License Key validation requires devices to communicate with both Apple's servers and Goodnotes' servers. If validation is failing, the most common cause is network restrictions. You'll need to whitelist these domains on your school network:
- *.cdn.goodnotes.com (*)
- *.apple.com
- *.goodnotes.com (*)
- *.goodnotescloud.com
- *.goodnotes-devops.com
- api.statsig.com
- featuregates.org
- statsigapi.net
- events.statsigapi.net
- api.statsigcdn.com
- featureassets.org
- assetsconfigcdn.org
- prodregistryv2.org
- cloudflare-dns.com
- beyondwickedmapping.org
- mail.goodnotes.com
(*) If you have .goodnotes.com, it will also cover .cdn.goodnotes.com. However, if your company does not use wildcards for your whitelist, then you would need to add *.cdn.goodnotes.com
Check your firewall logs to see if connections to these domains are being blocked. Sometimes content filters or security appliances can interfere with the validation process even when general internet access is working fine.
Report to Goodnotes with: Network configuration details, firewall logs, and whether the issue affects all devices or only specific models/locations.
Issues Your Users Will Report to You
"It's asking me to purchase"
When users report that they're not seeing the full version of Goodnotes, or the app is asking them to purchase Goodnotes, you're looking at a deployment issue. Here's how to diagnose:
- Check whether the device actually received the MDM configuration (ask user to copy and paste this into Safari and send you a screenshot of the output: goodnotes6://managed-app-config)
- Confirm the device has internet connectivity
- Verify the device is properly enrolled in your MDM
- Force a sync from your MDM console to the specific device
- Have the user restart the Goodnotes app
Report to Goodnotes with:
- Device model and iOS version
- MDM deployment logs
- Screenshot of what the user sees
- Whether this affects one device or multiple devices
Deployment at Scale
Some devices activated successfully, others didn't
When you're seeing inconsistent activation across your deployment, here's how to diagnose:
- Check the "last check-in" time for affected devices in your MDM
- Review deployment logs to see if there are failed pushes
- Compare iOS versions and device models between working and non-working devices
- Look for patterns (specific building, department, or device type)
Sometimes the issue is as simple as certain devices being offline during the initial deployment. Force a sync or check-in for affected devices, and have users open Goodnotes to trigger the License Key validation.
Report to Goodnotes with:
- Appconfig XML
- Screenshots of any error codes in the app
- Diagnostics data
License Key In App Warnings
License Key Activated:
This banner indicates a successful indication and will show your expiry date for your License Key. The expiry date is something that will be in effect as long as your License Key runs and can be extended at the date shown, either by purchasing another year's subscription for businesses, or reaching out to our Educational Licensing team for schools.
License Key Invalid:
This banner indicates one of two instances and will occur when there is an error with the License Key itself. Either the License Key is not valid itself and is likely caused by an error or typo in copying the generated License Key. As such, be sure to review the License Key matches that which was sent in the email to you.
Otherwise, this can be caused by an error on the backend which we may be unaware of. In which case we can investigate the cause and provide assistance. In this instance, please provide diagnostic logs to our Education Support team. To get this, please open your Goodnotes library > Settings > Your Name > Account Settings > Export Diagnostic Data.
Internet Connection Required:
This banner will appear when the License Key has been pushed to your devices via MDM but a criteria of the installation is not being met on the target device, in this instance, no internet connection. For installation to complete, end-user devices need to be connected to an internet connection during this process, otherwise the License Key will not validate properly. To remove this banner, simply connect the device to the internet and the issue should resolve. If not, there might be an issue connecting to our license key server; in that case, you can just wait until the app retries a successful connection, or contact us with your Diagnostic Data.
Heartbeat Expired:
This banner will appear on a device with a valid License Key, however this warning indicates an issue with the device in particular. As our License Keys support floating seats on each license deployment, it is important that your end-users access the internet and use the app to validate their usage.
This means that if a device does not connect to an internet connection at least once in any 30 consecutive days, the seat will be automatically removed from the configuration and the user will receive this warning informing them as such. To reconnect, the user simply needs to open the app and connect to an available internet connection in order to validate once more.
Device Limit Reached:
This banner will appear when the License Key being deployed has ran out of available seats to deploy.
For School users, this may mean that you either need to redistribute seats on your key or that you require further seats on your deployment. Contact our Education Support team, for further information.
Device Removed From License:
This will only appear if you have completed the Remove Device section in the settings of the app. This setting allows you to remove a specific device from your deployment, without the need of removing it on the License Key side. If you were to head into the Goodnotes ⚙️ menu > About > Remove Device, you will find a warning appear that asks if you want to remove this device from the License Key deployment. If you choose to Remove Device, the app will revert to the consumer version and will be removed from your License Key deployment until re-enrolled. If you want to reinstate usage, tap Re-enrol, as shown within the in-app banner.
For users who have a URL-based License Key for Goodnotes, you would instead see the option to 'Revert to Non-Institutional Version' as an option to remove your device from the License Key. This would allow you to remove the device from the license and also revert to the non-institutional version of the app, if the app was installed via the public App Store.
What to Include When Contacting Goodnotes Support
When you reach out to Goodnotes support about deployment issues, having the right information ready will help us resolve your issue much faster.
Always include:
- Your License Key
- MDM platform and version (e.g., "Jamf Pro 10.45")
- Number of devices affected
- Specific error messages or screenshots
- Appconfig XML
- Diagnostics data
Also helpful:
- Device models and iOS versions
- MDM deployment logs
- Network configuration details (for validation issues)
- Timeline of when the issue started
- Troubleshooting steps you've already tried