Whether you are riding herd on an office, school or an entire entire enterprise of iThings, you probably could use a little help. That is what Apple Configurator offers — a centralized way to setup and manage the iPhones, iPod touches and iPads under your care. Best of all, it is free.

Given that iOS 6 arrived some weeks back, Apple Configurator 1.2 (free, Mac App Store) is perhaps a little late. However, this dot-update is jam-packed with new features, tweaks and bug fixes:

• Support for new iOS 6 features on supervised iOS devices
• Lock to App
• Global HTTP Proxy
• Support for new iOS 6 restrictions on supervised iOS devices
• Allow the removal of apps from the device
• Allow use of iMessage
• Allow access to iBookstore or the purchase of books classified as Erotica from iBookstore
• Allow filtering of profanity for Siri
• Allow use of Game Center
• Allow the installation of new configuration profiles
• Improved reliability when activating a new iPhone or iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular
• The last settings used on the Prepare pane are retained when Apple Configurator is quit and relaunched
• Improved ability to update or restore devices that are currently in recovery mode
• Paid apps from the App Store can now be installed in the Prepare pane only when a device is being supervised
• Support for configuring advanced network options on Apple TV
• Bug fixes

That said, if you’re planning to use Configurator to mass install apps from the App Store, that functionality requires redemption codes, which are only available via Apple’s Volume Purchase Program for education or business.

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