How to Put Your Own App on Company Android Phones

The clean way to put your own app on company Android phones is to publish it privately through managed Google Play. You upload the app file once, Google publishes it so only your company’s devices can see it, and from then on it installs like any other app. In NounDesk this is free, takes about 10 minutes, and nobody on the team needs a Google account to get it.

Here is why that beats sending the file around, how to do it, and what to watch for.

The job-sheet app nobody can install

A plumbing company paid a local developer to build a job-sheet app. The crew fills it in at each house: what was fixed, parts used, a photo, the customer’s signature. It saves the office an hour of paperwork a day.

Getting it onto the phones was the hard part. The developer sent an APK file by email. The office manager forwarded it to eight technicians. Three could not find the download. Two got a warning about installing apps from unknown sources and stopped. One turned the warning off, installed it, and also installed something else from a link he found later.

Then the developer shipped an update, and the whole thing started again.

This is called sideloading, and it is the usual way small businesses get an in-house app onto phones. It works, but it means every phone has to allow apps from outside Google Play. That is the same door malware uses. If you have read our post on stopping employees installing apps, you will know that keeping that door shut is one of the most useful settings you have.

How private apps work

Managed Google Play is the version of the Play Store that company-managed Android phones use. It shows only the apps your organization has approved.

A private app is an app published into that store for your organization only. It never appears in the public Play Store. Customers, competitors and the public cannot find it or install it. On your phones, it sits next to your other approved apps.

Because the app comes through Google Play, phones can keep blocking apps from outside Google Play. Your app is not the exception that forces you to open the door. It goes through the front.

Once it is published, it behaves like every other app in NounDesk. Per security policy, you set it to:

• Required: it installs on its own and cannot be removed. Right for the crew’s job-sheet app.
• Available: staff can install it from the company store if they want it.
• Blocked: kept off phones on a policy where it does not belong.

In your app list it carries a Private badge, so you can tell it apart from public apps at a glance.

Employees do not need a Google account. The phone only needs to be enrolled in NounDesk. Nobody has to add a personal Gmail to a work phone just to get the company app.

How to publish your app in NounDesk

You need to be an Owner or Admin, and your organization needs to be connected to Google. That is the same one-time step you did to enroll phones.

Before you start, ask whoever built the app for the signed APK or AAB file. If a developer made it for you, they will know what this means.

1. Go to Apps → Upload your own app. This opens the Your own apps section of Google Play inside NounDesk.
2. In Google’s page, choose to add a private app, give it a name, upload the signed APK or AAB, and publish it.
3. Wait about 10 minutes, then select it to add it to your NounDesk catalog. If it does not appear on its own, enter its package name under Published it but it is not in your catalog yet? and select Add to catalog.
4. Open the security policy for the team that needs it and mark the app Required. Publish the policy.

Phones on that policy install the app the next time they are online. A phone that is switched off gets it when it next connects. The full steps are in the private apps docs.

Updating the app

When the developer ships a new version, upload a file with a higher version number in the same place. Google publishes the update and phones pick it up through Google Play, the same way they update any other app. No more forwarding emails.

Honest limits

A private app cannot be made public later. If there is any chance you will want to sell or give away the app in the public Play Store one day, talk to your developer before you publish it privately.

You need the app file. NounDesk does not build apps. If someone else built yours, you need them to hand over the signed file. If you have lost touch with them, sort that out first.

Devices need Google Play. Private apps reach phones through managed Google Play. NounDesk manages company-owned Android 8 and newer phones and tablets, and those have it. Personal phones are not supported.

About 10 minutes is Google’s time, not NounDesk’s. Publishing runs through Google’s own flow. Most of the wait is Google processing the upload.

Other ways to get your tools on the phones

Not every in-house tool is an Android app. If yours is a web page, such as a booking page, a dispatch dashboard or a timesheet, you can turn the web address into an app on the home screen instead. That is covered on the managed Google Play feature page, along with how to arrange what staff see in the store.

And if the app is for a shared tablet that should do one job, private apps pair well with kiosk mode, so the tablet stays on your app and nothing else.

What to do this week

1. List your in-house apps. Job sheets, stock counts, ordering, inspections. Note which ones are installed today by sending a file around.
2. Get the signed files. Email the developer and ask for the latest signed APK or AAB for each one.
3. Check whether any might go public. If yes, have that conversation before you publish privately, because it cannot be undone.
4. Publish one app and make it Required on one policy. Start with the team that uses it most, then check the app compliance view to see which phones have it.
5. Turn sideloading off. Once the app comes through Google Play, set Apps from outside Google Play to Blocked on that policy, if it is not already.

FAQ

How do I install an in-house app on company Android phones?

Publish it privately through managed Google Play and mark it Required in a security policy. In NounDesk you upload the signed app file under Apps → Upload your own app, and phones on the policy install it the next time they are online.

Can people outside my company see the app?

No. A private app is visible only to your company’s devices. It does not appear in the public Play Store.

Does it cost anything to publish a private app?

No. Publishing through managed Google Play is free. You pay only the normal NounDesk price of $1.50 per device per month.

Do employees need a Google account to get it?

No. The phone needs to be enrolled in NounDesk, and the app reaches it through managed Google Play without anyone signing in.

For the bigger picture on what a small fleet needs, see our guide to Android MDM for small business, and the private apps feature page for more on how it works.

If your team’s own app still arrives as an email attachment, try NounDesk and publish it to your phones properly.