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Managed Android Apps on ChromeOS on an Edu G Suite Domain

Android Apps via the Play Store have been available on consumer accounts for some time on selected devices. We have 1:1 Acer R11's and have recently had the opportunity to trial them on G Suite Edu accounts.

From the point of view of the end user, they see the Play Store App appear on the shelf and have to agree to the terms and conditions. After that, force installed and pinned apps are immediately installed and they get access to the Google for Work Store. This only contains apps you have approved for that user.

For the administrator the steps are:

  • Enable Play Store Apps for the domain
  • Enable access to the Play Store for specific Sub-OUs or users
  • Add apps to Play for Work
  • Set permissions for each app - can install, force install or pin to shelf. This can be done differently for each app and each OU and is therefore very granular. 

Issues so far

  • Apps take a while to appear in the Play Store for users. Initially only force installed apps appear.
  • You cannot set the permissions of multiple apps in one go - one at a time at the moment.

Video of the management and end user view:


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