Google Workspace Updates: Scheduled Release

Updates for managing iOS devices: user enrollment is now supported; purchase and distribute apps using the Apple Volume Purchase program

Monday, November 20, 2023

What’s changing We’re expanding mobile device enrollment options for iOS devices to include user enrollment. User enrollment separates work and personal data on iOS devices, giving admins control over Workspace data on the device while users retain privacy over their personal data.

Additionally, admins can use the Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) to purchase and disturbed apps in bulk to user-enrolled iOS devices in their organization.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why you’d use it Managing how Workspace data is accessed is a cornerstone of security. The new user enrollment option ensures end users can keep their personal data separate from their work data, while admins can ensure their users are using and accessing apps appropriately.

Using the VPP, admins can efficiently curate a suite of work-related apps—both free and paid—for their team. This streamlined process not only simplifies the deployment of essential business apps but also ensures that employees have access to the right apps they need to be productive and efficient, all within the secure perimeter of our MDM platform.

Getting started

Admins:

User enrollment:

Use our Help Center to learn more about separating work and personal data on iOS devices.

Volume Purchasing Program:

To begin, admins need to access Apple’s volume purchasing program with their Business Manager credentials. Through the VPP, admins can purchase app licenses that can be distributed to their employee’s devices in bulk.

From the Apple Business Manager, you can purchase app licenses in bulk.

Once purchased, admins will need to download the content token, which needs to be uploaded into the Admin console.

VPP tokens can be uploaded in the Admin console at Devices > Mobile and endpoints > iOS settings > Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP).

For complete instructions, use this Help Center about distributing iOS apps with Apple VPP and applying settings for iOS devices.

End users:

The user enrollment process starts when a user signs-in to an app for the first time or re-signs into an app. They’ll be prompted to begin downloading the configuration profile, which will open in an internet browser with more instructions and information. Once the profile has been downloaded, the user will be directed to their devices settings to complete user enrollment.

Visit our Help Center for more information about how to install the Google Device Policy app and a configuration profile on your device, how your iOS device is managed and getting approved work apps on your iOS device.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on Nov 20, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Frontline Standard, Frontline Starter, Business Plus, Cloud Identity Premium, Education Standard, Education Plus and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Distribute iOS apps with Apple VPP
Google Workspace Admin Help: Separate work and personal data on iOS devices
Google Workspace Admin Help: Apply settings for iOS devices
Google Help: Set up Google Workspace on an iOS device
Google Help: Get approved work apps on iOS devices
Google Help: How your iOS device is managed

Read and write out of office and focus time events using the Calendar API

Friday, November 17, 2023

What’s changing In addition to reading and writing working location data, we’re expanding the Calendar API functionality to encompass out of office and focus time data. Developers can use the API to read and write this information and synchronize users’ availability with external systems. For example, you can use the API in conjunction with HR systems to automatically add OOO entries to a user’s calendar when they submit vacation time. Or the API can be used to automatically block focus time on a user’s calendar to complete training courses.

Reading and writing out of office and focus time is helpful in a variety of situations such as:
Creating and updating OOO and Focus Time events (Events.Insert, Events.Update, Events.Patch).
Specifying OOO and Focus Time specific features, such as auto-declining meetings, and setting do-not-disturb statuses.
Selecting any combination of event types to read from a calendar (Events.List).

Further, reading and writing this information eliminates the need for users to enter the same information into multiple systems, helping to cut down on manual churn.

Who’s impacted

Developers

Why you’d use it

Out of office and focus time event support joins support for working location, which was announced earlier this year, to round out API functionality for calendar events. Each specific event type can be synced throughout your organization's IT ecosystem, creating seamless user journeys and helping to connect users with resources and each other. This includes things such as:

Mapping working location data to better adapt on-site resources and update other third-party surfaces, such as hot desk booking tools.
Automatically blocking OOO based on vacation or PTO requests.
Blocking off focus time events to give users time to go through onboarding or other company training programs.

Additional details

Prior to this update, if you requested to read a user’s calendar via API v3, out of office and focus time events were returned with unknownorganizer@calendar.google.com in the organizer field, and without their specific features. With this update, these events will return with all their properties and the specific user as organizer. Please check your code to ensure it does not make implicit assumptions about the previous API return values, and use the eventType parameter to perform different operations with regular, OOO, Focus Time, or Working Location events

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
Developers: Use our Developer Documentation for more information about managing focus time, out of office, and working location events.
End users: There is no end user action required. Visit the Help Center to learn more about showing when you're out of office or using focus time in Calendar.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 16, 2023

Availability

The Calendar API is available to all.
Out of Office events are available to Google Workspace Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers.
Focus Time events are available to Google Workspace Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers.

Resources

AppSheet smart chips for Google Docs

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

What’s changing In Google Docs, you can already insert smart chips for Docs, Sheets and Slides files, date chips, Calendar event chips, and more. Beginning today, you can now insert smart chips for AppSheet content. These smart chips allow you to access AppSheet data directly into Docs — you’ll be able to view and take action on the data, including triggering automations, without having to leave Docs.

Getting started

Admins: AppSheet smart chips are included as part of the AppSheet product service entitlement in your Admin Console. Additional policies and settings can be configured directly in AppSheet
End Users: All Workspace customers are entitled to use AppSheet smart chips in Google Docs once they are enabled. To enable them, you’ll need to install the AppSheet for Google Docs Add-On from Google Workspace Marketplace. Visit the AppSheet Help Center to learn more about getting started with AppSheet and inserting AppSheet smart chips into a Google Doc.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace customers with AppSheet licenses.

Resources

Take action on Google Drive requests and comments directly in Google Chat

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

What’s changingGoogle Drive Chat app

Reply to and resolve comments in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides directly from Chat
Show more of the comment thread so you can have more context while replying
@mention your colleagues easily while replying to comments

With these updates, you can collaborate more easily on Docs, Sheets and Slides without ever leaving Chat.

Take action on Google Drive requests and comments directly in Google Chat

Getting started

Admins: In the Admin Console, you may install the Drive app for Google Chat on behalf of users in your domain. Alternatively, you can specify whether your users can install the Drive app for Google Chat from the Google Workspace Marketplace.
End users: If allowed by your admin, you can install the Drive app for Google Chat using the “New chat” button in Google Chat.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on November 14, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Make more informed decisions using Classroom analytics

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

What’s changingWe’re introducing analytics in Google Classroom, providing a centralized view of Classroom data and insights for educators and education leaders.

Designated education leaders and support staff now have direct visibility into student performance and engagement in the classroom, including if assignments are being completed, how grades are trending, and how Classroom features are being adopted. Education leaders will see a bird’s eye view of insights, with the ability to easily drill down further to identify which students, classes, and schools may need support.

Educators will also be able to see the same type of data for the classes they teach, providing them with a centralized snapshot of how each student in their class is trending. For example, if an educator sees that a student has low assignment completion this month, they can drill down to the list of missing assignments and follow up to see how to best support this student.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it matters This feature provides relevant insights that are immediately actionable, so education leaders and educators can make informed decisions around how to best support student success.

Getting started

Admins: Super Admins automatically have access to Classroom analytics and must enable Classroom analytics for designated education leaders to access data on the entire organization or limited to specific organizational units. Educators will automatically be able to see class-level analytics for their classes.
End users:

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 7, 2023

Availability

A Google Workspace for Education Plus license is required to access this feature for both education leaders and educators. Learn more about assigning licenses in the Help Center.

Resources

1:1 video calling in the Google Meet mobile app is now available

Thursday, November 2, 2023

What’s changingYou can now make cloud-encrypted 1:1 video calls to other users in your organization using the Meet mobile app. Previously, you had to create a meeting link ahead of time, which could then be shared in a calendar invite, chat, or email. Now you can place a Meet call on your mobile app directly to a colleague, ringing their mobile device. Within the call, you’ll also have access to the latest Meet features including in-meeting chat, virtual backgrounds and visual effects, live closed captions, and more depending on your Workspace edition.

1:1 video calling in the Google Meet mobile app is now available

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can only be turned OFF by turning off Meet meetings and calls for your organization.

Alternatively, you can deploy the Google Meet (Original) app from Google Play or the App Store to managed devices if you do not wish for users to have calling capabilities (outbound and inbound calls).
Note: We will introduce admin controls to restrict inbound calls next year. We’ll provide an update here on the Workspace Updates Blog when more information is available.
If you have legacy calling enabled for your users, they will have access to features previously found in Duo (group calls, messages, moments, family mode, etc.) if they have not upgraded to the new Meet app.

End users:

Rollout pace iOS:

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting November 2, 2023

Android:

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 14, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn off Meet meetings and calls for your organization
Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn on Meet meetings and calls for your organization
Google Workspace Admin Help: Manage mobile apps for your organization
Google Help: Learn about the new Google Meet app
Google Help: Make video or voice calls with Google Meet

Take Google Meet on-the-go with ease

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

What’s changing We’re introducing a new, simplified mobile experience that will make taking calls on-the-go easier and less distracting. When you join Google Meet from your mobile device, we’ll automatically detect whether you’re in-motion and prompt you to use On-the-Go mode.
Your meeting experience will be streamlined to surface the most important features to keep you focused and save you bandwidth:

A simplified user interface with access to the most critical features such as mute & unmute, hand raise, and audio device selection.
Only key information is displayed, such as the active speaker and the number of people on the call.
Your video is automatically turned off.
You have the option to view presented content.

Who’s impacted End users

Why it’s important As people are increasingly on the go, it’s becoming more common to join meetings while walking, in a car, or on public transportation. That’s why we’re introducing the On-the-Go meeting experience, which will make it easier for you to focus on the critical meeting details, cut down on external distractions, and save bandwidth with an audio-only experience.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Android:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on November 1, 2023

iOS:

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 1, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 15, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

Google Help: Use On-the-Go for meetings

Google Meet Series One Desk 27 and Acer Chromebase for Meetings devices will automatically adjust your lighting

Monday, October 30, 2023

Quick summaryCurrently, Google Meet automatically adjusts your lighting for meetings on the web, helping to improve your video quality in underexposed environments. We’re now expanding this functionality to meetings taken on Google Meet Series One Desk 27 and Acer Chromebase for Meetings devices. If these devices detect that your video appears underexposed, it will adjust the brightness to improve how you appear in the meeting. We plan to expand this functionality to larger meeting room devices in the future.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: The feature will trigger automatically when Meet detects that the users’ video is underexposed. Users can disable the feature in the settings menu for the active meeting. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning on automatic video lighting adjustment.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) from October 30, 2023

Availability

Available for all Google Workspace customers using Series One Desk 27 devices and Acer Chromebase for Meetings devices

Resources

Google Help: Turn on automatic video lighting adjustment

Map and sync system attributes of users from External Directory into Google Workspace

Thursday, October 19, 2023

What’s changing Using Directory Sync, admins can map all the system or default user attributes, including custom attributes, from Microsoft Active Directory or Microsoft Azure Active Directory to Google Directory user attributes and synchronize them. These attributes include first and last names, job title, company, and department. The detailed list of attributes supported can be found in the Help Center. Based on these attribute values, Directory Sync will automatically map the users with the attributes provided from the Active Directory or Azure Active Directory on the Google Workspace side.

Directory Sync is available as an open beta, meaning no sign-up is required. Use our Help Center to learn more about using Directory Sync and FAQs.

Getting started

Admins: To use the Directory Sync, go to Admin console > Home > Directory > Directory Sync. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up a user sync.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Use the space management tool to bulk delete Google Chat spaces

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

What’s changing Using the space management tool, admins can now delete multiple spaces within their organization at once. Over time, as more spaces are created, the list of spaces for an organization can become cluttered with abandoned and inactive spaces. Having the ability to delete multiple spaces at once can simplify the effort required by admins to manage spaces for an organization. . For example, admins can sort spaces based on their member count in descending order or based on the last activity in the space. From there, admins can select multiple spaces and delete them with one click.

Selecting multiple spaces

Deleting multiple spaces

Additional details

When viewing spaces in your organization, you’ll notice a new column: Group counts. In this column, admins can see how many groups are members of a specific space.

Getting started

Admins:

Super admins can access the Space Management Tool by default. Other admins will require the “manage chat and spaces conversations” privilege to access the tool. If this is your first time using the space management tool, please read more about the space management tool.
This feature will be available by default in the Admin console at Apps > Google Workspace > Settings for Google Chat > Manage spaces. Visit the Help Center to learn more about deleting one or more spaces in the Admin console.

End users: There is no end user action required. When a space is deleted, end users no longer see the space in their Chat interface.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 17, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Frontline, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching & Learning upgrade, Education Plus customers

Resources

Understand the impact of Context-Aware Access policies with Monitor Mode

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

What’s changing Admins can now use Monitor Mode to understand the implications of a Context-Aware Access (CAA) policy before deploying it to their end users. Monitor Mode will not block end users. Instead, it will show how the policy will block user access overtime, which admins can review in the CAA audit logs. Monitor Mode is available for Google Workspace, other Google Apps & third party SAML apps.

Applying Monitor Mode to context-aware access policies

Monitor Mode reports

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why you’d use it

Before assigning Context-Aware Access levels, it’s critical for admins to understand the impact this will have on their end users. Using Monitor Mode helps admins fully understand the end user impact before deploying them in active mode, which can help avoid disruptions while helping admins make more informed decisions regarding their security strategies.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on October 17, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers

Resources

Full HD available for group meetings in Google Meet

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

What’s changing Earlier this year, we announced 1080p video resolution for 1:1 Google Meet calls. Today, we’re expanding 1080p to meetings with three or more participants. This higher resolution is available on the web when using computers with enough computing power and a 1080p camera. 1080p resolution is off by default — users with 1080p cameras will be prompted to turn on the higher resolution option before entering the meeting, or it can be turned on or off via the settings menu.

Note that 1080p is only sent when one or more users are pinning the 1080p-enabled user on a screen large enough to render the 1080p video feed. In those specific scenarios, additional bandwidth will be required to be able to send 1080p video — Meet will automatically adjust the resolution if the device is bandwidth constrained.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Workspace Individual subscribers.
Also available to Google One subscribers with 2TB or more storage space with eligible devices.
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts.

Resources

Book a conference room directly from a Google Meet hardware device

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

What’s changing To maximize the use of physical room resources and make it easier to find meeting rooms, you can now book an available conference room directly from a Meet hardware device. If the device calendar shows a specific room is available, you’ll be able to book the room for either the next 30 or 60 minutes. If you need to, you can cancel an in-room booking from the device as well.

This feature will launch with the default set to OFF — admins will have several options to configure this feature across their fleet:

You can turn this feature on across all rooms by going to Directory > Buildings and resources > Global room settings and toggling Book rooms from Google Meet hardware.
You can turn off this feature for specific rooms by going to Directory > Buildings and resources > Resource management > Resources > [Room Name] > Room settings and toggle Exempt from in-room booking.

You can also bulk update the individual room toggle for up to 200 rooms from the resource management page.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the admin. Visit the Help Center to learn more about in-room bookings with Google Meet hardware.
End users: If your admin has turned on this feature in your organization, you should see the ‘Book now’ option appear automatically in available conference rooms unless the room in question has been opted out.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 10, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers using Meet hardware devices

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: In-room bookings with Google Meet hardware

Updates for exporting Google Meet hardware fleet data and bulk device configurations

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

What’s changing We’re making three updates to the way admins manage their Google Meet hardware devices:

Filtered fleet data export First, when you generate an export of your device data, that export will now use all active filters you selected on the Device list page prior to initiating the download. Previously, this action ignored filters and generated data from every device in your entire fleet.

Bulk updates via CSV upload Second, you can now make bulk updates to your device settings by uploading a modified export of your device data in CSV format with your desired changes. Prior to this change, the only way to make bulk changes to device settings that are managed at the individual device level (as opposed to organizational unit level) was to select up to 50 devices at a time on the Device list page and trigger a bulk action. This change will allow customers with large fleets to save time by cutting down on repeated, manual steps when rolling out changes to hundreds or even thousands of devices.

Important note: We recommend carefully reviewing the Help Center article before using this feature, as there is no automatic way to revert changes. The only way to undo changes is to use the bulk update feature again with an earlier, clean fleet data export file, so be sure to keep one saved.
Admins must have the requisite Google Meet hardware admin privileges to successfully bulk update devices (Manage devices for most changes, and Manage organizational unit settings when using it to move devices between organizational units). This feature cannot be used to assign calendars at this time.

Alert silencing

We’re also making it possible to temporarily silence device and peripheral alerts. This is helpful when rooms are temporarily taken down for maintenance. You can select a duration of time the alerts should be silenced for, and add a note regarding the silenced alerts so other Meet hardware admins can reference. You can also filter your devices by “silenced” and “unsilenced” from Devices > Google Meet hardware > Devices.’’

In addition, we’ve added a new customer-level setting at Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Service settings called New device alerts that now allows admins to specify whether newly enrolled devices automatically have their alerts silenced or not.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains:

Filtered fleet data export: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 12, 2023
Bulk updates via CSV upload: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 12, 2023
Alert silencing: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 7, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources

Allow users to install and run any internal app from Marketplace

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

What’s changingWe’re introducing a new admin setting to control whether users can install and run any internal app from the Google Workspace Marketplace along with their allowlisted third-party apps. This added admin feature gives more controls to customize users’ access to trusted internal apps based on their company policies, security requirements and user needs.
Currently, admins can leverage Marketplace apps access settings to choose to allow users to access all internal and third-party apps or specific allowlisted internal and third party apps published in the Marketplace. Many organizations build internal apps and add-ons specifically for for their organization, and this added admin control saves admins time by allowing them to distribute all internally-built apps with a single click, rather than managing and allowlisting each one.

Who’s impacted Admins, end users and developers

Why it matters This requested feature enables admins to have added control over app access settings.

Additional details With this new setting, admins can allow any internal app, but still limit the installation of third-party apps. Internal apps are apps that are privately-published in your organization.

Getting started

Admins:

End users: If enabled by their admin, you can install any internal app from the Marketplace by going to workspace.google.com/marketplace/mydomainapps.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 4, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Control user access to Marketplace apps

Presented content will be captured in higher definition in Google Meet recordings

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

What’s changing For recorded meetings in Google Meet, we’re increasing the maximum resolution for shared content from 720p to 1080p. This will help ensure crisper text and visuals for presented content, creating a better viewing experience. Note that the rest of the meeting capture will remain at a maximum of 720p.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 3, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Business Standard, Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Starter, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers

Resources

Navigate to Chrome Browser management faster in the Admin console

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

What’s changingIn the Admin console, we’ve added a dedicated category for Chrome Browser admin capabilities in the left-hand navigation menu. Previously, you would have to go to Devices > Chrome > Managed browsers as a Chrome Browser admin — this makes navigating to these specific pages faster. From here, you’ll be able to take actions such as configuring and enforcing Chrome policies, view reports on Chrome browsers in your organization, and more. For even more convenient access, you can pin this link to the top of your navigation bar.

Getting startedAdmins:

This update will be automatically available.

Customers can sign-up for ChromeOS and Chrome Browser Management and use Admin Console to manage their devices/browsers.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on October 3, 2023

Availability

Available to all Chrome Browser Cloud Management and Google Workspace customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Navigate the Admin console

Configure Android zero-touch devices directly from the Admin console

Monday, October 2, 2023

What’s changing We’re integrating the Android Zero-Touch iFrame with the Admin console for a better, more seamless experience for admins. Zero-Touch devices are devices which have been purchased from Zero-Touch resellers and used in company owned mode.
Directly from the admin console, admins will be able to:

Set Google Workspace provided configurations for zero-touch devices.
Link Workspace accounts with zero-touch accounts, ensuring devices will always enroll under Google endpoint management. They’ll also have the ability to unlink accounts if needed. Note that one Workspace account can be linked to multiple zero-touch accounts, but a zero-touch account can be linked to only one Workspace account.

In the Admin console, navigate to Devices > Mobile & endpoints > Settings > Enrollment > Android Zero touch

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why you’d use it

This update makes it easier for admins to specify a Zero touch configuration for their company owned devices directly from the Admin console. For enterprise mobility management partners (EMMs) this also minimizes the number of Google APIs and portals they need to interact with as well. Zero-touch devices will always enroll an account according to the GEM provided configuration — users cannot bypass this, even if they factory reset the device.

We strongly recommend that you continue to use the Zero-Touch customer portal if you need to:

View a list of your zero-touch company owned devices
Create more than one custom configuration
Set or remove configurations from a device

Getting started

Admins:

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Plus, Frontline Starter and Frontline Standard customers.
Available to Cloud Identity Premium customers.

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Create automatic zero-touch configurations for Android devices

Configure and bind multiple Android Enterprise Mobility Management providers

Monday, October 2, 2023

What’s changing You can now bind multiple Android enterprise mobility management providers (EMM) to your Google Workspace account. Previously, you could only bind a single EMM within your organization. This update gives you more control over how devices in your organization are managed. Specifically, it offers:

More flexibility: You can choose the right EMM for each user group in your organization. For example, you can use one EMM for engineers and another for retail staff.

Enhanced control: You can now have multiple instances of the same EMM provider, for example a cloud instance and an on-premise instance, to manage different sets of users.

Easier migrations: You can now run multiple EMMs in parallel, allowing them to perform phased migrations from an old EMM to the new EMM over time.

Additional details

Private apps

We strongly recommend that admins familiarize themselves with how binding multiple EMMs will impact availability of private apps. You can find more information in our Help Center regarding creating web apps and distributing private apps.

Google Play store

If you’re binding multiple EMMs to a Google Workspace or Google Cloud identity account, you must use your EMM iframe and not play.google.com/work to access the managed Google Play store.

Getting started

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers.

Resources

Client-side encryption in Gmail is now available on mobile devices

Friday, September 29, 2023

What’s changing We’re expanding client-side encryption in Gmail to Android and iOS devices, so you can read and write encrypted messages directly from your device. This allows your users to work with your most sensitive data from anywhere on their mobile devices while adhering to compliance and regulatory requirements. The Gmail mobile apps support encrypted mail natively, so users don't need to download multiple apps, or navigate to an external portal, to access their encrypted messages.

While Workspace encrypts data at rest and in transit by using secure-by-design cryptographic libraries, client-side encryption ensures that you have sole control over encryption keys and access to your data. Client-side encryption ensures sensitive data in the email body and attachments are indecipherable to Google servers — you retain control over encryption keys and the identity service to access those keys. For more information, check out our original announcement and the Workspace blog.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers

Resources

Google Admin Help: About client-side encryption
Google Admin Help: Gmail only: Set up your organization for client-side encryption
Workspace Blog: Client-side encryption for Gmail is now generally available

Updates

Updates for managing iOS devices: user enrollment is now supported; purchase and distribute apps using the Apple Volume Purchase program

Read and write out of office and focus time events using the Calendar API

AppSheet smart chips for Google Docs

Take action on Google Drive requests and comments directly in Google Chat

Make more informed decisions using Classroom analytics

1:1 video calling in the Google Meet mobile app is now available

Take Google Meet on-the-go with ease

Google Meet Series One Desk 27 and Acer Chromebase for Meetings devices will automatically adjust your lighting

Map and sync system attributes of users from External Directory into Google Workspace

Use the space management tool to bulk delete Google Chat spaces

Understand the impact of Context-Aware Access policies with Monitor Mode

Full HD available for group meetings in Google Meet

Book a conference room directly from a Google Meet hardware device

Updates for exporting Google Meet hardware fleet data and bulk device configurations

Allow users to install and run any internal app from Marketplace

Presented content will be captured in higher definition in Google Meet recordings

Navigate to Chrome Browser management faster in the Admin console

Configure Android zero-touch devices directly from the Admin console

Configure and bind multiple Android Enterprise Mobility Management providers

Client-side encryption in Gmail is now available on mobile devices

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