Microsoft today announced that Microsoft Intune support for Android Enterprise fully managed devices is now available generally available. This means that companies deploying Android devices to employees now have more control over the experience provided by those phones.
With fully managed Android Enterprise devices, companies can use Intune to install mandatory apps, set up a home screen, and so on. Intune supports a few deployment technologies for Android Enterprise devices on Android 6.0 and higher, including Knox Mobile Enrollment, NFC, QR Code, Token Entry, and Zero Touch Enrollment.
The setup experience can then be tailored in a number of different ways. Companies can require users to set up a PIN to protect the device, set a list of required apps that will automatically be downloaded during the setup process, and request users to sign in to Azure Active Directory to verify that company policies have been enforced.
Intune also supports multi-factor authentication policies on fully managed devices, it lets companies push certificates, resource access policies, and Wi-Fi, e-mail, or VPN profiles to devices. This lets companies define how resources can be accessed on a device, and the kind of authentication required to use them.
It"s no longer mandatory to enable installing apps from untrusted sources, and companies can use the Managed Play Store to give employees access to required apps. Optionally, organizations can give users access to the public Play Store, allowing them to install their own personal apps. Intune can also enable or disable system apps on fully managed devices, only giving users access to the apps required by the company.
With the general availability, Intune also now supports compliance policies such as enforcing PIN complexity requirements and specifying threat level thresholds. Other Intune features on Android include app protection policies, OEMconfig support, a new light-weight Intune app to help users manage their device"s compliance with company requirements, and of course, integration with Microsoft Launcher, which lets companies deploy customized home screen layouts since version 5.8.
To learn more about fully managed Android Enterprise devices on Intune, you can read this technical article.