Cannot delete devices from Esper Console — permissions and device state

Android

When attempting to delete one or more devices, the remove options may appear greyed out, the device reappears after deletion, or the action completes but the license count does not change. Each symptom points to a different root cause: insufficient user permissions, an incorrect removal method for the device's current state, or an active auto-enrollment configuration re-registering the device.

Why this happens

Esper requires an Admin or Enterprise Admin role to delete devices. Additionally, Esper offers two distinct removal paths — Wipe + Remove for reachable devices and Remove Only for offline or already-reset devices — and using the wrong one for a given device state will either fail silently or leave the device record in the Console. Finally, devices enrolled through Zero-Touch Enrollment or Knox Mobile Enrollment (KME) may re-enroll automatically if those configurations are not updated before removal.

Step 1: Confirm your account has deletion permissions

1. Navigate to Company Settings → User Management.
2. Click your user account.
3. Confirm that Role is set to Admin or Enterprise Admin. Only these roles can delete devices. If your role is set lower, ask your account administrator to update it before continuing.

Step 2: Delete online devices using Wipe + Remove

Use this path when the device is powered on and communicating with the Esper Console. This option sends a factory reset command to the device and then removes its record from the Console.

1. Navigate to Devices & Groups.
2. Check the box next to each device you want to remove.
3. Click Actions → Wipe + Remove.
4. Confirm the action in the dialog that appears.
5. Wait for the operation to complete. The device will factory reset and its record will be removed from the Console.

Verify: Refresh Devices & Groups. The device should no longer appear in the list. Navigate to Company Settings → Subscription and confirm your active license count has decreased. Allow up to 15 minutes for license reconciliation to reflect the change.

Step 3: Delete offline or already-reset devices using Remove Only

Use this path when the device is powered off, unreachable, or has already been factory reset outside of Esper. Because the device cannot receive commands, Remove Only deletes the record from the Console without sending a wipe instruction.

1. Navigate to Devices & Groups.
2. Check the box next to each offline device you want to remove.
3. Click Actions → Remove Only.
4. Confirm the action in the dialog that appears.

Verify: Refresh Devices & Groups. The device should no longer appear in the list, and your active license count under Company Settings → Subscription should reflect the expected number within 15 minutes.

Step 4: Delete devices in bulk

1. Navigate to Devices & Groups and use the search or filter controls to display only the devices you want to remove.
2. Check the box next to each target device, or use the select-all control to select every displayed device at once.
3. Click Actions and choose Wipe + Remove for online devices or Remove Only for offline devices. If your selection contains a mix of both states, process them in two separate bulk actions to ensure the correct removal method is applied to each group.
4. Confirm the bulk action in the dialog that appears.

Verify: Refresh Devices & Groups and confirm that none of the removed devices appear in the list. Check Company Settings → Subscription to confirm the license count reflects all removals.

Troubleshooting

Wipe + Remove and Remove Only are greyed out

• Confirm your role is Admin or Enterprise Admin as described in Step 1.
• Hard-refresh the Esper Console (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Shift+R on macOS) and try again.

License count did not decrease after removal

• Wait up to 15 minutes for license reconciliation to complete, then refresh the Esper Console.
• If the count still has not updated after 15 minutes, proceed to the section below.

Deleted devices reappear in the Console

• This means the devices are being re-enrolled automatically. Navigate to your Zero-Touch Enrollment or Knox Mobile Enrollment (KME) configuration and verify that decommissioned devices are not mapped to an active enrollment profile. Disable or remove the enrollment mapping for those devices, or contact your OEM to prevent automatic re-enrollment.

If this doesn't resolve it

If devices still cannot be deleted after confirming your role, using the correct removal method, and ruling out auto-enrollment, contact Esper Support with the following information:

• The device name(s) or serial number(s) you are trying to remove
• A screenshot of the greyed-out or unresponsive Actions menu, if applicable
• Your user role as shown in Company Settings → User Management
• Whether the affected devices were enrolled through Zero-Touch Enrollment or KME
• The current device state (online, offline, or unknown) for each affected device

Still need help?

If the steps above don't resolve the issue, submit a support ticket with your device model, Android version, Esper Agent version, and a description of what you've already tried — this helps the support team investigate without a follow-up.