How can I upload a custom Android app to the "Private" Play Store?

Question

I'm trying to upload a custom app from a vendor to our private play store but I am getting the message that "The package name is already used by another application." Our MS reps tell me that the message means that another Intune user has already uploaded the apk to their private play store, not in our environment though, just another Intune user somewhere in the world. So this makes me think it's not actually a private play store. The problem is that since it isn't in the play store I can't use that app in a managed home screen. Is there really no way to be able to upload this app and use it without giving the end users full access to the device? This seems like a big flaw.

Answer 1

@Jeremy King, Thanks for posting in Q&A.

To upload a private Android app to the Google Play Store, you can use Microsoft Intune to add a Managed Google Play private (LOB) app directly in the Intune admin center [1]. The LOB app is then added to your private store in the Managed Google Play console.

However, if you are receiving an error message that reads "The package name is already used by another application", it means the package name of your app is already in use by another app in the Google Play Store, and you cannot use it. You can ask your app developer to try using a different package name for your app and try resubmitting.

[1] Add Managed Google Play apps to Android Enterprise devices with Intune. Retrieved from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/apps/apps-add-android-for-work#managed-google-play-private-lob-apps

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