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Assign Managed Google Play apps

After you add a Managed Google Play (MGP) app to your tenant, it must be assigned to groups or organizations for it to become available on devices managed by your tenant. You can have apps installed automatically or become available for the device user to manually install, as needed. In either case, after assignment the app is available on the managed Google Play Store app, either in the personal profile on a fully managed device or in the work profile on a BYOD or mixed-use company-owned device.

With a few minor exceptions, all three MGP app types — public, private, web — have the same assignment capabilities with regards to installation and managed configurations options.

For Android Enterprise devices, the behavior of some settings varies depending on if the device is managed by the Google EMM API or the Android Management API.

Assign an MGP app

Select the app

To assign an MGP app to a group or organization, first begin by selecting the app to assign:

  1. On the Application page, select one or more apps. If you select more than one app, you can assign them all at once, but you must configure the settings for each app individually.
  2. Click Assign. The Assign Application page opens.

Configure the assignment

Next, configure the assignment settings:

  • Target Device (public app only) — Select whether to install as an Android Enterprise app, an Android Legacy app, or both. The legacy API offers different installation settings but has limited compatibility.

  • Installation Type (Android Enterprise only) — Select how the app installs on the device:

    • Manual — The device user can choose to manually install the app from the managed Google Play Store app.
    • Automatic (Removable) — The app installs automatically after the profile is deployed, and the device user can uninstall and remove it from the managed Google Play Store app. If the device is managed by the Google EMM API, then the app can't be reinstalled, even by a device command.
    • Automatic (Non-removable) — The app installs automatically, and the device user can uninstall it but not remove it from the managed Google Play Store app. If the device is managed by the Android Management API, then the app can't be uninstalled.
  • Auto-run after Installion — Set to Yes to open the app on the device immediately after installation. If the device is managed by the Android Management API, this setting has no effect.

  • Auto Update Mode — Select an update schedule for the app. The available schedules are:

    • Default Update — The app updates according to the Auto Update Apps setting in your tenant's base Android Enterprise configuration.
    • High Priority — When multiple apps are queued for an update, this app is given precedence in the queue.
    • Postponed (90 days) — When an update is released, it is delayed for 90 days.

  • Managed Configuration (Android Enterprise only) — Click Set Configuration to customize the additional settings for the app in this assignment. These settings don't affect other assignments.

    • By default, each setting is grey, which indicates that it's unset. To apply a setting, click Configure, then select or enter a value. When the setting is configured, the button turns blue. To unset a setting, click ✓ Configured, which turns the setting and the button grey again.

    • For settings with text fields, click Lookup to browse and select from the list of available lookup items. Lookup items are helpful device- and enterprise-related tokens that substitute their actual values when passed to the device. For example, the ${DeviceIMEI} lookup item substitutes for the device's IMEI/MEID. For detailed information about each of the look up items, see List of lookup items.

      NOTE — When configuring Gmail, Outlook, or Samsung Email (6.0 and higher), if you want to pass user account identifiers stored on the Knox Manage server, enter $emailaddress$ in the Email Address field and $username$ in the Username field. If you use Exchange ActiveSync, the email address, account password, and the exchange server name can be entered as lookup items. For more details, see How to configure Exchange ActiveSync.
    • To import a saved configuration for this app, click Import Configuration, then select a CONFIG file from your local filesystem. After importing, the fields populate with the saved configuration's values.

  • Use App Track (private app only) — Set to Use to assign the app to a custom line of development, typically used for early access or pre-release patches. The app track must first be created for your MGP store on the Google Play console.

    • App Track — Select an app track to apply for this assignment.

  • Assign Chrome App (web app only) — Set to Yes to assign the app as a Chrome browser app. By default, the app is assigned to the default web browser on the device. Before you can use this setting, the Chrome app must already be added to your tenant.

    NOTE — If you use this setting, any existing Chrome app assignments will be re-applied to devices.

  • Schedule — Specify when the app is automatically installed. Only available if Installation Type is set to Automatic (Removable) or Automatic (Non-removable).

    • Use Deployment Scheduler — You can either choose to allow a scheduled deployment or continue to use manual deployment for the app. Depending upon your requirements, select Use or Do not use.
    • Deployment Starts At — If you've chosen to use a scheduled deployment method, you can select your deployment start time in this option. Use the date picker and time lists to specify the deployment start time.

  • Target — Choose which devices to assign the app to:

    • Target Type — Select whether to assign the app to a Group or an Organization in your tenant.
    • From the list, search for and select one or more group or organizations to assign the app to.

Confirm the assignment

Lastly, review and confirm the assignment:

  • Click Assign. A dialog opens and provides you the opportunity to review and confirm all your assignment settings.

See also