Google Device Policy Reviews

by Lillian Santos

This is my personal phone as I am a highschool student. I do not have the ability to purchase a separate phone for completing my work. I used Google Classroom on my device to upload pictures of homework, notes, and drawings as it is easier to take photos using my phone than the school issued computer. I also used google drive to upload audio recordings for my music class. GoogleDevicePolicy prevents me from using these applications. When I was in the process of downloading GoogleDevicePolicy, it was telling me that the administrator would have access to my information on my phone. I don’t care whether it’s my personal account or my school account, the idea of my school having weight in my PERSONAL device made me very, very uncomfortable. This has made uploading recordings and files finicky as I had to remove my apps I have relied on for the majority of my school career. It renders these apps utterly useless. Please read the other reviews people have left on GoogleDevicePolicy.

by Lovly_jessie

I usually don’t write reviews but I feel like I need to warn people about GoogleDevicePolicy. I downloaded it for my work email. I installed it believing since it’s for work it should be safe. I was wrong. Literally a few seconds after installing GoogleDevicePolicy it made me make a new password to get into my phone. Why? I don’t know but it wouldn’t let me not do this. After this I immediately deleted GoogleDevicePolicy thinking that would be the end of it. When I went to change my password back it wouldn’t let me do a numerical password. I googled it and GoogleDevicePolicy still had control over my phone so I have to reinstall it and manually unregister GoogleDevicePolicy from my phone. Then my phone was back to normal... hopefully. I did not expect GoogleDevicePolicy to have so much control over my phone just for my work email. I will just stick to going on my computer to look at my emails. Long story short don’t use GoogleDevicePolicy unless you’re okay with an app completely taking over your phone.

by Necklivin'

Upon going through the extremely lengthy process to be able to use my Google Drive on my phone and make it easier to upload and work on projects, I now realized that I simply cannot work on my phone anymore. What used to be a reliable app system that Google created, is now a scam. When I went into my settings to install the profiles as asked, I was presented with “Warning: The administrator may collect personal data, add/remove accounts and restrictions, install, manage, and list apps, and remotely erase data on your iPhone.” .... WHAT?! My phone and what I do on it is not property WHATSOEVER of my school or the organizations I am volunteering or working for. Will NEVER use any Google apps anymore, and immediately uninstalling ALL of them, since they’re useless now. I’m highly disappointed that such an invasion of privacy within my own device is coming from Google. I was even thinking of getting a Pixel, but this just left a bad taste in my mouth. If I could give it 0 stars I would.

by Stupid App Thingz

I have a test due tomorrow and I have been working on it for school a little bit so I downloaded because it said I had to download GoogleDevicePolicy to use google docs before I even got GoogleDevicePolicy it made me a bit unsettled that it said GoogleDevicePolicy had access to my phone but of course I expected so I could work on my essay which is a test grade by the way and it said that my school administrators had to accept my account to even use GoogleDevicePolicy so now I can’t work and it’s all this apps fault I used to be able to do tons of productive work on my mobile phone and as a broke student I wasn’t going to buy a laptop when I could do all my work on my phone now I am thinking I should get one. Do not download GoogleDevicePolicy. Also side note really creepy how I can’t revoke the permission I gave my administration to have access to my phone, also now gonna fail this test because of this stupid update please remove.

by Brankica_U

It used to work when I added my Gsuite email to Gmail app. Then it just stopped working so I had to remove Gmail as it said I didn’t have access to it anymore. No biggie, using email through other apps. But I needed Keep on my phone and it asked me to install GoogleDevicePolicy to access Google Keep. Then it says I can’t access it and to contact my Gsuite admin. I am the admin.
Tried looking for other solutions, help files don’t have it.
Last thing I tried is to just remove my account completely and re-add it, start over. Can’t because GoogleDevicePolicy started bugging and just keep popping info popup without any option but to click OK and as soon as you do the same pop up shows up again. Over and over. USELESS and you can’t even use Gsuite on iOs without it. Guess I should stop paying for Gsuite now.

by Stuffy McKinnz

Avoid this at all costs if you can. It is way more complicated than it should be. I downloaded it to view my emails from work, but it has never worked properly. It just keeps taking me to a menu to download a bunch of other junk and I still can’t see my emails! Also, every time I use the browser on my phone, it reminds me that I haven’t completed the installation. (You also can’t delete it once it is installed, otherwise I would have removed it by now!)

Edit: Now I’m just stuck in a loop trying to install my profile. It asks me to download, I hit accept and then it tells me to review my settings. Then it just kicks me back to the install profile section. What a joke!

by Monbebe93

It used to work so fine and perfect until I encountered some difficulties and now when I try to use my google drive it doesn’t want to work even after I downloaded GoogleDevicePolicy. It’s the absolute worst and they need to fix or remove GoogleDevicePolicy. I already uninstalled it but I was planning on installing it again but then I say the reviews saying things like it’s stealing data and documents from your phone and don’t even get me started with GoogleDevicePolicy now stealing and hiding apps. It’s a no for me.

by Nascentday

I’m the IT manager for my company and insisted that everyone install GoogleDevicePolicy onto their mobile devices so that we could protect company data, particularly when an employee left our organization. In spite of having up-to-date device policies for all Google Apps, I receive constant notifications to update the policy when opening any app. Even after dismissing the notification, I receive it again and again within seconds. Also, this policy not available for Google Notes, which limits my ability to access Google Notes from my work account on my private device. It’s all very frustrating.

by FunGirl1987

the worst app i’ve ever seen. it doesn’t do anything to help you use your work accounts. i tried using this for my school account, but when it showed my status all it said was “to gain access to your work account, contact your organizations admin.” i was able to tap on it, but when i did GoogleDevicePolicy did absolutely NOTHING. i can’t access my online schoolwork on my phone anymore, making me have to wait to do my work until i get home, which might be a little late in the day sometimes. so inconvenient. google, you need to either get rid of GoogleDevicePolicy altogether, or make this so it actually works and helps people. i suggest the first option.

by Ihateeverything666

ok so basically don’t get GoogleDevicePolicy if your a student. GoogleDevicePolicy holds not right to access so much information on my phone, most of which isn’t even needed for google docs. i have an URGENT project that needs to get done and i cannot because of this filthy app. 0/10 would not recommend. i’m most likely going to do bad on my test tomorrow :,( to be frank, did google docs need an update? NO, IT DID NOT! it was perfectly fine before. this is just super problematic for students like me. if you are looking for a stressful life then this is the perfect app for you.

by Crappy App6849229

I can’t access my work data. There is no update. It says I have to update GoogleDevicePolicy . I have asked our head tech guy and he had no idea what the message means (telling me to get my organizational admin to give me access)
I rely on my phone/tablets to have access on the go. I can’t get into any of my google stuff with my work address.
Everything was fine until 24 hours ago. Total junk. Avoid GoogleDevicePolicy if possible.

Update: same thing happening again. There is no update, but I can’t access my work email and apps without this mysterious update.

by Aramises

I wanted to be able to check my work email on my phone, and that required downloading GoogleDevicePolicy. BIG mistake. I’m not sure how or why, but after downloading GoogleDevicePolicy, my phone now auto-locks every time the screen goes to sleep. Even if I manually change the auto-lock timer to 5 minutes or “never,” it still locks IMMEDIATELY. I guess it’s a safety feature for accessing sensitive material, but my god is this annoying. I deleted GoogleDevicePolicy but my phone is still screwed up, so thanks for nothing, I guess.

by TaylorRECOMENDATIONS

I have been using GoogleDevicePolicy for the past couple of months and it has been fine. But now, it. Keeps asking me to update it even though I have done it multiple times. Not to mention the quality is poor and the instructions on how to fix this problem are not in any way amazing. I use GoogleDevicePolicy so I may access my school account and when I am in a meeting I do not need to be bothered by the notice popping up. In conclusion it will most definitely be needing some improvements!

by JunQ2019

I will give GoogleDevicePolicy 5 star for functionality but 1 star for usability.

Once it’s properly configured, it works great, but configuring it took me some time and effort since the UI is very user-unfriendly. At the end of profile installation, there is a line of text on the screen saying something like copying the URL to Safari. I was switching to a new iPhone, I think the text might even be cut off or something on the screen. I was expecting simply clicking some buttons in the installation/configuration process and therefore totally missed the text for a manual operation. I ended up in some kind of weird incomplete installation loop for a couple of days until I finally read the text and did that manual operation. Reading some user feedback, I think that’s probably what’s tripped some other users as well. Please make that manual operation more apparent!

Hope this can help some people.

by Jane Nia

Ok first of all, GoogleDevicePolicy is not TOO bad... it’s just really annoying when there’s these pop ups.. i only downloaded this on my iphone because unfortunately Gmail kept telling me to “Open “Google Device Policy” so you can access your work data” and it kept popping up so i got annoyed and downloaded GoogleDevicePolicy.. and honestly GoogleDevicePolicy is much rather disappointing because i expected wayyy better than this, it’s actually so empty when you open up GoogleDevicePolicy ..

by Mochimatsui

GoogleDevicePolicy allows your employer to administrate your phone with a policy. It’s necessary to access corporate G SUITE features like emails and stuff on your phone. It allows the employer to e.g. wipe the data when the phone is declared lost.

All the other comments claiming that GoogleDevicePolicy disables their camera and changes the password etc. and thus leaving a 1-star review, you are misinformed. Your employer is the one setting the policy, not GoogleDevicePolicy.

If you are installing this on your personal device, understand the compromise you are making before continuing.

I’m deducting a star still because Google should better communicate this information in GoogleDevicePolicy before and after people download.

by Krevbot

As an IT professional we use this is in our environment for mobile device management and find it works well.

If you don’t want your device invaded you could always, you know....not add your email account to your phone. If you want company information on your phone you inherit the risks associated with that.

by Scam Submission Alert

You need to remove other device MDM profiles for it to work. I had set one up manually and it conflicted.

If you are not an admin on the google business account, you may (will) have problems.... you will need to contact your admin... that’s easy if you are the admin.

If you are not the admin and trying to install it, then it may or may not be configured.

If you haven’t talked to your IT Dept., and you are not the IT Debt, don’t install it.

This is for corporate google accounts, not your free gmail account.

The purpose is for MDM... so you should probably accept all of the prompts that indicate it can remotely manage and wipe your device... that’s is the point.

by Ihaveaverylongusername

If your workplace or school uses GoogleDevicePolicy to enforce policies you don’t like, that is not Google's fault, nor does it indicate a problem with GoogleDevicePolicy. If you’re giving this a one-star review because you can’t use your camera or you had to use a better password than the 0000 you’ve been using, go complain to your administrator instead and stop embarrassing yourselves.

by Exceedingly Angry User

Some people were raising concerns about privacy, the help section of GoogleDevicePolicy outlines it in detail, and the claim that all privacy is taken away seems unfounded: If you access multiple Google Accounts on your device, only data from your work or school account can be controlled by your organization. For example, if you have a personal Gmail account and a work email account, only information from the work account is available to your employer. Browser activity in private or Incognito mode in Chrome Browser or Apple®Safari® stays private.

by Fafridi

So I can’t do my work because of this message that keeps on showing up and says to regain access to your work contact your organization admin so please fix this because I contacted my administrator but they didn’t know how to fix this so I don’t know what’s happening or either my administrator is preventing me from using GoogleDevicePolicy or this is just a bug so fix this bug or I’ll contact my administrator for details about why this is happening

by TomalT5

On samsung phones when google device policy is administered, an separate work profile will be created where all the G Suite apps can be found and they are not mixed-up with personal google apps of the device. If your employer want to wipe their data or user enter wrong password several time to unlock the device only the work profile is goes wiped out keeping the personal data untouched.

Please add the separate work profile feature for iOS platform as well.

by Julie Weidenfeld

I’ve been accessing both my personal and company emails on the Gmail app with no issue for years, and then December 19,2019, BAM, I can’t get my business gmail account to load on my phone, stating device policy not authorized. So I downloaded GoogleDevicePolicy, to no avail. I’ve spent way more time then I care to trying to resolve this, and am extremely frustrated! If anyone can explain how to fix this, please comment somewhere! Why does google have to complicate GSuite? And yes, I went to administrator page to make sure my iPhone is approved.

by Google Privacy

To use google suite with business account, you need to install some profile from GoogleDevicePolicy, which allows remote admin collect and modify data on your phone.

Yeah you can say no. But then you cannot check your gmail, get google calendar notification and chat with your coworker using Google Chat. Destroy your business life if you rely on Google suite heavily.

I truly understand the concern of the data leakage caused by losing phone. But forcing us to give out our privacy is definitely not a solution .

by SianaRepmad

I don’t see the point of GoogleDevicePolicy because it doesn’t work. I was notified to download GoogleDevicePolicy to access Google drive and other google apps. Every time I try to use it it says “To regain access to your work account, contact your organizer’s admin.” Even though I’m using my personal email! I’ve tried using other emails and the same message will pop up or it would say that I have to sign into G suite, even though I already have. They need to fix this ASAP and the inconvenience is causing delay with attaining assignments for work.

by Saltier Salt

I had to access my business account only to find that I had to get ANOTHER google app. I didn’t think it would be a big deal until I had to download it into my settings, CHANGE MY PASSWORD! The old system worked perfectly well! And to top it all off, it won’t even let me access my accounts for one hour from now when I have something urgent to work on. The fact GoogleDevicePolicy has so much access to your phone is absolute nonsense

by Nunyabot

The people that have issues with GoogleDevicePolicy have never had to manage or try to manage iOS devices in the wild. Apple makes it nearly impossible to implement security in an enterprise in any meaningful way, they still think in the consumer space.

by Ostar2

If you really need to remove GoogleDevicePolicy. You'll have to go under the Settings App --> General --> Device Management --> Tap on "Google Apps Device Policy" --> Tap "Remove Management". Personally, I love GoogleDevicePolicy since I have a GSuite domain but organizations use it too as a means of securing their accounts.

by Allen.collins

Allows your company‘s IT department to manage security profiles on our corporate or personal device to provide you with access to corporate resources. You would only download GoogleDevicePolicy if instructed by your company or if you manage your enterprise security.