Intune Application Deployment (Android)

In this article, we are going to discuss Intune Application Deployment for Android devices. Intune supports a variety of applications for Android devices such as Google Play app store (Managed Google Play app store) apps, Line-of-business apps (.apk), and web links (also called web apps).

“Note: Managed Google Play is Google’s enterprise app store and sole source of applications for Android Enterprise in Intune. All apps deployed for Android Enterprise devices must go through Managed Google Play to get installed on a device.“

We will learn about different methods of Intune Application Deployment for Android Enterprise devices.

We can deploy Android Enterprise applications in two different ways based on the application type.

Google Play app store application: To deploy the public apps that are generally available in the Play Store, we need to use the Managed Google Play app store associated with the Google account linked with Intune.

Admin can browse and approve store apps from within Intune console through a hosted view which opens directly in the Intune console and does not require separate reauthentication with a different account.

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center.

2. Select Apps > All apps > Add.

3. In the Select app type pane, under the available Store app types, select Managed Google Play app.

4. Click Select. The Managed Google Play app store is displayed.

5. Select an app to view the app details.

6. On the page that displays the app, click Approve. A window for the app opens asking you to give permissions for the app to perform various operations.

7. Select Approve to accept the app permissions and continue.

8. Select Keep approved when app requests new permissions in the Approval Settings tab and then click Done.

9. click Select to select the app.

10. Click Sync at the top of the blade to sync the app with the Managed Google Play service.

11. Click Refresh to update the app list and display the newly added app.

Inhouse or LOB application (.apk): To deploy private LOB apps (.apk) for Android Enterprise devices, the admin uploads the apps from within Intune console through a hosted view which opens directly in the Intune console and does not require a Google Developer account. The app package name must be globally unique in Google Play for this deployment to work.

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center.

2. Select Apps > All apps > Add.

3. In the Select app type pane, under the available Store app types, select Managed Google Play app.

4. Click Select. The Managed Google Play app store is displayed within Intune.

5. Select Private apps (next to the lock icon) in the Google Play window.

6. Click the “+” button at the lower right to add a new app.

7. Add an app Title and click Upload APK add the APK app package.

8. Click Create.

9. Close the Managed Google Play pane if you are done adding apps.

10. Click Sync on the App app pane to sync with the Managed Google Play service.

Web links (also called web apps):

Web links are websites/URLs that can be pinned as an app on Android Enterprise enrolled devices. These can open with Edge and other internet browsers however, are more compatible with Google Chrome browser.

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center.

2. Select Apps > All apps > Add.

3. In the Select app type pane, under the available Store app types, select Managed Google Play app.

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4. Click Select. The Managed Google Play app store is displayed within Intune.

5. Select Web apps (next to the Globe icon) in the Google Play window.

6. Click the “+” button at the lower right to add a new app.

7. Add an app Title, the web app URL, select how the app should be displayed, and select an app icon.

8. Click Create.

9. Close the Managed Google Play pane if you are done adding apps.

10. Click Sync on the app pane to sync with the Managed Google Play service.

Deploy Applications: Once the application is added/synced successfully to Intune admin portal, we can deploy it to end users.

1. Go to Apps > All Apps and look for the application to be deployed.

2. Select the application to get deployment options.

3. Select Properties, and then select Edit next to Assignments to open the Add group pane.

4. Select Properties and then Assignments.

5. In the Assignments tab, under Required, select Add group, select the groups to include, and then select Select.

6. Select Add group. and select Save to save your changes.

7. Confirm the app assignment.