How to allow access to personal Gmail in Managed Google Play contexts

Environment

• Knox Manage
• Fully managed devices
• Personal Google account
• Managed Google Play

Overview

In contexts where you manage Android apps with Managed Google Play, due to business need, you often want to restrict access to the public Google Play Store by preventing the personal Google account on the device from making changes in the default Play Store app. However, this has the side effect of preventing the device user from accessing their account’s email through the Gmail app.

This article provides guidance on how to block the device user’s access to the public Play Store app while preserving their access to their personal Gmail account.

How to allow a personal Google account to access Gmail but not the public Play Store app

1. In the Knox Manage console, click Profile.

2. Select your profile and then click Modify Policy.

3. Under the Android Enterprise policy drawer, click System.

4. Modify the following policies:

   Policy	Value
   Add or Delete Account	Allow
   Add or Delete Account > Allow Changes to Managed Google Play	Allow only MGP Account

5. Click Save & Assign to save and push your changes to the device fleet.