Page Summary

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• The Google Play Custom App Publishing API allows EMMs, third-party developers, and organizations to enable enterprise customers to publish private apps directly.

• Private apps are only available within an enterprise's managed Google Play store and cannot be accessed outside the enterprise.

• Before using the API, you need to enable it for a project, create a service account, and grant publishing permission to that account on your Play Console.

• You also need to retrieve your developer account ID from the Play Console URL after completing the setup.

The Google Play Custom App Publishing API is intended for enterprise mobilitymanagement providers (EMMs), third-party app developers, and other organizationswho want to enable their enterprise customers to publish private apps (alsocalledcustom apps) directly from their end-user interface.

An enterprise customer is an organization that usesmanaged Google Play to distribute workapps to employees. Each enterprise customer maintains their ownmanaged Google Play store, which can includeboth public and private apps.Private appsaren't available outside the enterprise—only users with access to theenterprise's managed Google Play store can view and install private apps.

Preliminary setup

Before you can publish private apps using the Google Play Custom App Publishing API, youneed to first enable the Google Play Custom App Publishing API for a project,create a service account, and grant publishing permission to this account on your Play Console developer account.

Enable the Google Play Custom App Publishing API

To enable the Google Play Custom App Publishing API for a project, follow thesesteps:

1. Open theGoogle API Console. If you don't have a Google account, selectMore options >Create account and then fill in the form to create anaccount. If you have a Google account, sign in if prompted.

2. From the projects list, select a project orcreate a project.

3. Open the API Library.

4. Search the API Library for the Google Play Custom App Publishing API. Toenable the API, select it and then clickenable.

Create a service account

With the same project for which you've enabled the Google Play Custom App Publishing API, follow these steps to create a service account:

1. Open theGoogle API Console. Login if prompted.

2. From the projects list, choose the project that you selected or created when enabling the API.

3. From the main menu, selectIAM & Admin >Service accounts >Create service account.

4. Enter a name for your service account and selectFurnish a new private key. Then clickCreate.

Take note of the service account's email address and store the service account'sprivate key file in a location accessible to your application. Your applicationneeds them to make authorized calls to the Google Play Custom App Publishing API.

Grant publishing permission to the service account

To grant publishing permission to the service account you've created, follow these steps:

1. Open thePlay Console

2. Select an existing developer account or create a new one.

   Note: Owner account of your developer account should also be an admin of the enterprise customer you wish to publish the private app to.

3. Follow the steps mentioned ingive users access document to give the permission tocreate and publish private apps to the service account's email address.

Retrieve the developer account ID

After the setup and permission process is complete, take a note of developer account ID from the Play Console URL:

https://play.google.com/console/developers/123456

You need to pass the developer account ID as a parameter when youpublish private apps for the user'senterprise.