# Manage and distribute apps

The Google Play EMM API gives you the ability to integrate Android app
management into your EMM console. This page describes how managed Google Play,
the content marketplace for Android Enterprise, and your EMM console can
work together to support the app management lifecycle for your enterprise
customers.

## Managed Google Play

Managed Google Play is a version of Google Play that's optimized for
enterprises. It combines the familiar user experience and app store features of
Google Play with a set of management capabilities that are designed specifically
for enterprises.

### For IT admins

IT admins can use managed Play to browse Android apps for their enterprise.

### For end users

To end users, managed Google Play is their enterprise app store. The user
experience is similar to Google Play---users can browse apps, view their details,
and install them. The most notable difference is that the user's IT admin
controls the apps that a user can access and install from managed Google Play.

## EMM console

With the Google Play EMM API, managed Google Play iframe, and managed
configurations iframe, you can integrate the full [app management lifecycle](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/mam-overview#the_app_management_lifecycle)
into your EMM console.

### EMM notifications

You can subscribe to [EMM notifications](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/about-notifi%0Acations) to receive alerts in response to events in managed Google Play that
affect your enterprise customers. For example, you can receive alerts when an IT
admin uses managed Play to approve an app or when an app update makes a request
for new permissions.

As an EMM developer, you can use these notifications to display messages, prompt
an IT admin to take certain actions, or automate processes in your console.

*** ** * ** ***

## The app management lifecycle

### Find public apps

IT admins can use the search feature in the [managed Google Play iframe](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/managed-play-iframe)
or [managed Google Play](https://play.google.com/work) directly to browse public
apps for their enterprise. For more information, see [Find public apps](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/public-apps).

### Support private apps

You can integrate private app publishing capabilities into your EMM console by
adding the managed Google Play iframe or using the Google Play Custom App
Publishing API. Enterprises can also publish apps and mark them as private from
the Play Console. Private apps are automatically approved for the enterprise
when they're published.

For more information, see [Support private apps](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/private-apps).

### Support web apps

A web app turns a web page into an Android app, making it easier to find and
simpler to use on mobile devices. You can add support for publishing, editing,
and deleting web apps in your EMM console by adding the managed Google Play
iframe or using the Play EMM API.

For more information, see [Support web apps](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/web-apps).

### Distribute apps

After an IT admin approves an app, there are two ways to get the app onto a
user's device: [push install](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/distribute#silently_push-install_apps)
the app or [add the app to the managed Play store](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/distribute#make_apps_available_in_the_managed_play_store) where
the user can install it manually.

The managed Play Store displays apps in a basic layout by default, but you can
use the Google Play EMM API to let IT admins customize the layout of the store.
For example, you can group apps by categories such as "communications" or
"finances".

For more information, see [Distribute apps](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/distribute)
and [Custom store layouts](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/store-layout).

### Configure apps

Some apps designed for enterprises include built-in managed configurations,
which are settings that an IT admin can remotely specify and apply to devices.
To support managed configurations in your EMM console, you can either embed the
managed configurations iframe or develop your own custom UI.

For more information, see [Configure apps](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/managed-configurations).

### Update apps

When a public app releases an update, the update sometimes includes requests for
new permissions. Using the Play EMM API, you can set update preferences for
apps in a device's policy.

For more information, see [Update apps](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/update).

### Delete apps

You can use the Google Play EMM API to develop features that let IT admins
remove apps from users' devices, reclaim app licenses, and remove apps from the
managed Google Play Store.

For more information, see [Delete apps](https://developers.google.com/android/work/play/emm-api/delete).