Publish private apps from managed Play in your EMM console

Private apps are automatically approved for your organization and are typically ready for distribution within 10 minutes. You can upload a total of 15 private apps per day. Note that web apps also count towards this total. To publish a private app:

1. On the left, click Private apps .
2. At the bottom, click Create .
3. Enter a title.
4. Select an AAB or APK and click Open.
5. If an AAB is selected, agree to the Play signing Terms of Service*.
6. Click Create.

The first time you publish a private app, you'll need to provide an email address to receive notifications from the Play Console about your apps and Google Play developer account. You can update your contact email at any time.

*Note: When creating new private apps using AAB in the iframe, Google will generate and manage the signing key for the app. You can instead utilize your own signing key by publishing via the Play Console or uploading the apps APK in the iframe and following the instructions for uploading an AAB for a private app created with an APK.

1. On the left, click Private apps .
2. Select the private app you want to edit.
3. Click Edit.
4. Update the title or click edit to upload a new AAB or APK.
   • If you’d like to upload an AAB for an app that was created using an APK, follow the instructions.
5. Click Save.

To start uploading AAB for existing apps uploaded as APK, you should enroll in Play app signing. Otherwise, Google will not be able to sign generated APKs. Follow the steps below to enroll in Play app signing.

1. Go to Play Console by clicking “Make advanced edits” in the iframe UI.
2. Select the app.
3. Follow the instructions to upload the signing key in the Play Console.
4. Now that Play app signing is enabled, you can upload AABs in the Managed Play iframe and the Play Console.

For frequently asked questions about Play app signing, read Best Practices for Private apps

Note: Your contact email is different than the email shown in your private apps' store listing. To update a private app's store listing, see Edit advanced app details.

The Play Console sends notifications about your apps and Google Play developer account to your contact email. To update your contact email:

1. On the left, click Private apps .
2. Next to your contact email address, click Update.
3. Enter a new email address.
4. Click OK.

   Any future notifications from the Play Console will be sent to the updated email address.

To add a description, screenshots, and other advanced app details, or unpublish an app, you need use the Google Play Console. You can access the Google Play Console from the Private apps feature:

1. On the left, click Private apps .
2. Select the private app you want to edit.
3. Click Make advanced edits.
4. Using a Google Account, sign in to the Play Console.
   Note: Your account will be added as an admin of your organization's Play Console account. You can use this account in the future to sign into the Play Console.
5. Click Grow Store presence Main store listing.
6. Make any edits and click Save.

Unlike deleted apps, you can republish an unpublished app. If you unpublish an app, existing users can still use your app. Your app won't be available for new users to find and download in Managed Google Play. To unpublish an app:

1. On the left, click Private apps .
2. Select the private app you want to unpublish.
3. Click Make advanced edits.
4. Sign in to the Play Console with a Google Account.
   Note: Your account will be added as an admin of your organization's Play Console account. You can use this account in the future to sign into the Play Console.
5. Click Release Setup Advanced settings.
6. In the App Availability section, select Unpublish.

While deleting a private app from your Play Console account permanently removes the app, it will not release the app's package name. This means you won't be able to republish the app under the same package name. Deleted apps aren't available for new users to find and download in Managed Google Play, but existing users can still use them.

To delete an app, contact the Play Console support team.

You can manage the users who have access to your organization's Play Console account. To ensure your domain retains access to published apps in case an employee leaves the organization, we recommend that administrators create dedicated role accounts.