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App Catalog Rule - Adding a private app from managed Google Play

M
Michael
BROCK SOLUTIONS US SYSTEMS

I'm not sure what I'm missing here but I'm hoping someone can help me out. Ultimately, I'm trying to add my app to an application catalog rule using the Managed Google Play Applications option. 

Here's what I've done.

In Google Play Console I've set my organization, set the app to private, created a release for Production, uploaded the apk, and released it. Everything looks right. It says it has been released, is active, and says it is available on Google Play. The dashboard even gives me a link to view it on Google Play, though the link goes to a page that isn't found (which might be expected for a private app).

When I try to add my app in MobiControl it isn't there. But I know the organization link is working correctly because I can approve apps in the managed Play Store and they show up.

Does anyone have any idea what I might be missing?

android Google Play
2 years ago
SOTI MobiControl
ANSWERS
MD
Matt Dermody
2 years ago

I have seen some inconsistencies with this in dealing with Private Play Managed apps. I'm not sure it's necessarily a SOTI issue, but maybe more of a Private Play issue. Do you have the URL that was generated for the app after it was approved? 

Something like this?

https://play.google.com/work/apps/details?id=com.your.app

Try signing into Managed Play directly in your browser with the account you have bound to the SOTI instance. Then try to navigate directly to the URL of the app to see if it comes up in a browser. If it does you may be able to approve it in Managed Play there. If it does not load then you might still be waiting for things to work through the Managed Play process. 

M
Michael
2 years ago

I have the link as the Google Play Console provides one "View on Google Play". However, the link just goes to a page that says Not Found. I've never dealt with private apps on Google Play so I'm not sure if that is normal (why would they generate a page since it's private)? When you publish that app it's approved pretty much instantly and it has been about 6 hours since then. I'll check back tomorrow and see anything has changed.

MD
Matt Dermody
2 years ago

One other question I have is why are you going through this process at all if this is an app that you own and manage? If you have the APK then you can distribute it via a Package directly on devices via SOTI and you therefore shouldnt need to introduce the unnecessary complexity of Manage Play Store app distribution. 

M
Michael
2 years ago

Our SOTI instance is v4 and doesn't have the ability to do that so I've been trying to go the play store route. We've been looking into updating to v5 but it's a slow process and I didn't want it to hold me up.

After 24 hours the app has, unfortunately, still not shown up in the list of managed app in MobiControl.

MD
Matt Dermody
2 years ago

v4? Do you mean v14.x? Package based APK installs in SOTI have been available for a very long time and are definitely supported on older versions including 12, 13, 14, and 15, to my knowledge. If I have the option of installing an APK via direct install Package versus going through the Managed Play Store infrastructure I go with the direct install every time. 

IM
Ian Mulhall
2 years ago

Is there an "Enterprise" option on this version of MobiControl? What version are you using?

We deploy our "In House" apps using this method on the newer versions of Mobicontrol

M
MNMOD@SOTI
2 years ago

Hi Michael,

Thank you for posting on SOTI Pulse!

Could you please provide an answer to this below.

Kind regards,

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