Block iMessage on student's own BYOD iPads?

Question

Hi,
As well as supply iPads for students to use, students can bring their own iPads to school and connect to our Wifi. My question is, how can we block iMessage for students only without having to supervise their devices in Configurator? If we block the suggested ports in our filtering server, it also blocks other Apple functionality and we don't want to block it for staff.
Thanks for any suggestions,
SMM.

Answer 1

Sorry, but other than blocking the ports in the router, there's no way to block iMessages on devices you don't manage. You could block port 5223 which might disable Messages without too collateral damage. Below are listed some other services Apple has on 5223:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1629  
XMPP over SSL
Apple Push Notification Service
APNs
FaceTime
Game Center
If you need any of those services to run, then you won't be able to block iMessages. Even if you block it through your WiFi network, that won't stop students with iPhones or iPads with cell service from using it, so if this is a classroom issue rather than one of tying up your WiFi network (in which case Messages really doesn't take up much bandwidth), there's probably little point in blocking Messages on your network even if you can do so.
The ony other option is to require that any student who wishes to use an iOS device in your school allow it to be managed, and that's a policy I think your school would find difficult to implement.
Regards.