androidgoogle-playandroid-for-workandroid-management-api

Management API and app distribution inside enterprise


I'm using Android Management API to turn several devices into kiosks for ticketing application. I was able to create an enterprise, enroll a couple of devices, install the app manually and control it via policies. It works just fine.

Now I want to publish my app to Play Store and I want it to be available for the devices enrolled to this enterprise only. As suggested here, I restricted the app to my enterprise in Pricing & Distribution > User programs > Managed Google Play and published my app. Then I added my app to Android Management API policy to get an automatic update. But the app still isn't visible on these devices and doesn't update. When I'm changing the package name in the policy to some existing app, the device is trying to download it. So it seems like a problem with my app in store.

Do I miss something? There are other Google APIs that solve private/enterprise distribution: Android EMM Developers or Custom App Publishing API but there is no information how do these APIs work together and if I still need to register to EMM if I'm using Android Management API? I thought that it should simplify this process, but I'm getting a bit confused.

Also to mention, the enterprise owner and the store owner is the same account.


Solution

  • The Android Management API and the EMM API do similar things. The EMM API currently has a few more features that are slowly being added into the management API. Try to stay with only one of them.

    You seem to be doing everything right. Normally the best thing to do is contact Play Console support in this case. You can do this through the help menu in the Play Console, which is on the "?" question mark icon.

    If you don't manage to get any help from them, ask them to route the question to the Play Enterprise team and say we asked you to in this StackOverflow answer. You'll need your app package name and enterprise id.