Android Enterprise IV: Mobile Application Management
Mobile Application Management
Android Enterprise offers the ability for a corporate Managed Play, which contains only Administrator approved applications for enterprises. In general the Mobile Application Management is quite familiar with other applications: Create a Managed Play application and assign them to a Tag. Afterwards they will appear in Managed Google Play. Based on non Android Enterprise Management options, Android Enterprise leverages the capability of deployment options for applications. With Android Enterprise and depending on the included management capabilities from each Application Developer, applications may have additional options which can be configured with the edit managed configuration button. If you intend to let applications automatically be installed and updated on managed devices, enable the Automatically push to managed device option.
Add Application
- Navigate to App Portal
- Go to the desired platform (Android or Samsung Knox)
- Create a New Application
- Ensure that Managed Play is selected as type
- Click the Search icon next to Name
- Search for an application, e.g Microsoft Teams
- Locate and select your application
- Confirm with Select
- Adjust the Name and Description (optional)
- Enable Automatically push to managed device (optional)
- Press the edit button next to Edit managed configuration
- Review the possible configuration options
Configurations that are made in the App Portal will be handled as the default import options, when you assign applications into a Tag. You can configure here already your desired application configuration, but keep in mind that you can always overrule these settings inside Tags.
- Press OK
- Proceed with Save
- Accept permissions with Yes
Assign Applications
- Navigate to your created Tag for Work Profiles or Corporate Owned devices
- Activate Apps on Definition tab
- Click Save
- Navigate to Apps tab
- Click Assign More Apps
- Select each app you want to deploy with this Tag
- Click Add Selected Apps
When applications are added into a Tag, they will be imported with the default configurations set in the App Portal and the inheritance will be directly released. This means you can overrule the configurations and deployment options inside the tag but any changes in the App Portal won't affect anymore the existing configuration in the Tag. When you remove and add the application from the Tag, the default configuration from the App Portal will be taken over again.
Configure Applications
- Click the Edit button in the Manage Config column
- Enable or Disable Automatically push to managed devices and/or customize deployment options
- Press the Edit button next Edit managed configuration to review and configure the application
Push Deployment
- Navigate to Definition
- Click Push to Devices
- Click OK
- Click Save & Close
- Click OK
Ensure that your target device is attached to the tag.
Managed Google Play
To check the behavior of Managed Play on any end user devices proceed with the following:
- Take your target device
- Open Companion and ensure that everything is updated
For corporate owned devices with device owner mode
- After the first enrollment
- Open Play Store
- Tab on the top right the account information icon
- Note that you are connected to (Managed) Google Play Store as a work user
- Close the view and review your approved applications
- Open a desired application and tap install
- After a couple of seconds the application will be installed
For personal devices with work profiles
- After the Work Profile activation
- Open Play Store in the workspace area
- Tab on the top right the account information icon
- Note that you are connected to (Managed) Google Play Store as a work user
- Close the view and review your approved applications
- Open a desired application and tap install
- After a couple of seconds the application will be installed in the workspace area
Review Configuration
A list of Managed Play apps that are configured via a managed configuration will be shown on the device inside the Companion under Profiles > App Configuration Profile. You can review here always if a managed configuration is applied to the device.
Next Steps
- Read our Administrator Guide
- Review our Application Configuration Guide
- Check our capabilities for Windows 10 Autopilot