[FIXED] Service Announcement: Available work apps missing in Managed Play Store on device

[Lizzie]

Updated 12th October, 2023

Current status: Fix implemented

Issue description: We've received multiple reports that some approved apps are not displayed in the Managed Play store on devices.

Latest update:

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your patience and for your help to identify the problem. I've been informed by our Engineering Team that a fix has been implemented and those apps not displaying should now be visible. If you experienced this issue, please can I ask you to check if this has been resolved on your side? 

Massive thanks,

Android Enterprise Customer Community Team

Previous update:

Read more

Current status: Under investigation

We've received multiple reports that some approved apps are not displayed in the Managed Play store on devices.

Our Engineering Team is aware of the issue and actively working on a fix to address this. Unfortunately, they don't have an estimated time for when the issue will be resolved. We will continue to monitor this.

Please comment on this post or if you are a Partner please create a support ticket via the Partner Portal, if you have similar reports or have any questions/feedback.

Thank you for your patience on this.

Android Enterprise Customer Community Team

(Big thanks to @matsm and @TomMuc for reporting this in the community)  

[Alex_Muc]

Is the engineering team able to reproduce the problem?
I could provide bugreports where different services were set to verbose.

[Lizzie]

Massive thanks for your reply here @Alex_Muc. I think the team have everything they need now, if this changes I will be sure to message you. 

Speak to you soon (and welcome to the Customer Community). 

Thanks again,

Lizzie

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I've just updated the status on this above, keep me posted how this is looking on your side. 

Many thanks,

Lizzie

[Alex_Muc]

On my test devices, only 7 apps from the collection were displayed during the error period.
Since the fix was implemented, all devices are loading the full collection in Managed Google Play again. One of the devices only updated the collection after a force stop Google Play, although this would probably have resolved itself after some time.

Many thanks for the quick fix!

[Lizzie]

Amazing news, thanks for the update @Alex_Muc - I really appreciate it! 😀

Have a great weekend. 

[matsm]

Unfortunately on my test device the applications are still not visible.

Installed all available updates. 

Force stopped and cleared Play data

Factory reset the device

Play Store version: 35.2.19.21

[Lizzie]

Thanks @matsm for the update here. I think what you are experiencing is something slightly different, I've sent you an update via your Community inbox - let me know if you have any questions. 

Lizzie

[TomMuc]

The situation has improved but it seems its still not completely gone. Some devices still only show all available apps a few hours after the enrollment. Deleting Play Store data seems to work again.

We will monitor further and report if the situation gets worse.

[Lizzie]

Thanks @TomMuc for keeping me posted on this, let me know if you spot anything change. 

[TimHardy]

There has been a big improvement since the fix was implemented however we are still intermittently experiencing this issue.

On demand apps take an extended time to populate and clearing the play cache is not resolving 

[Lizzie]

Thanks for the update on this @TimHardy. To check, when this was first fixed was it working as expected or has this been the same behaviour?

Hey @TomMuc, I'm wondering if Tim's experience match yours?

[Alex_Muc]

We also have an issue that might match what @TimHardy is experiencing.

On many devices, Managed Google Play is not complete right after enrollment. Many approved apps do not appear in the collection, nor can they be searched for.
Apps can be installed via MDM successfully, but they still do not appear in Managed Play afterwards.
This problem solves itself after several hours.

In the original problem from the topic, only the App Collection was affected. This meant that apps could still be found and installed via search. In addition, the current problem only affects new enrolled devices. So the problem sounds similar, but seems to have a different cause.

[TimHardy]

Hi Lizzie, Sorry for the delay. 

Following the initial fix it is working as expected on the majority of new enrolments however we still see the issue on approx. 2 out of 10 new enrolments in to WS1. Play store is missing all optional apps for upto 2hours post enrolment. 

Prior to the fix we were seeing the issue on approx. 6 out of 10 enrolments so there has been a noticeable improvement 

We have also reported this back to VMware

[GreggH]

I echo this experience mentioned above. 

Last week we had a session setting up 40 new devices (Samsung XCover 6 Pro on Android 13) via KME and 10 of the devices were demonstrating this fault with the play store cache clear not remedying it. 

[matsm]

 Unfortunately there is no change on my end. Microsoft has gone silent in the support case as well

[rykerjn]

In the process of moving from MobileIron to Intune. We are experiencing this issue right now. After completing the enrollment process, open the Play Store in the Work Profile, and no apps show. If you search for anything, then it will show the Intune app and Android System WebView. If you force close the Play Store, clear the data and reopen, then sometimes you will see the approved apps, but if you go to install an app, you can't and has a message of "This item isn't available."

If you retire the device, uninstall & reinstall Intune, and re-enroll, then everything works. Apps show up immediately and are installable.

Would like to hear if there are steps that can be taken to prior to enrollment to avoid this. Clearly this issue is not resolved.

[Lizzie]

Great to meet you, @rykerjn, thanks for providing a little more information here. I've been highlighting the above back to our team, we could do with a bit more information though. I wonder have you or would you mind creating a support ticket with your EMM please, so they can provide us with a bug report? 

Thanks so much,

Lizzie 

[Moombas]

Hi @Lizzie ,

at which version is this fixed?
I have currently one store here where all devices missing one app in playstore:

App: RagnCycle

Android: 13

MDM: Mobicontrol (App is listed in the agents own application list)

Playstore Version: 

And there are no updates available/found by the device for playstore or other apps.

[Lizzie]

Hey @Moombas,

Thanks for sharing you are experiencing something similar. This was fixed initially at the beginning of October on the latest version at that time. 

I'm highlighting the comments here internally, but as you can see there are slight variables in all of the experiences above, so it could actually be something separate. I wonder would you mind reporting this via your EMM and then collectively we can get more information on this please?

Thanks again, 

Lizzie 

[Moombas]

I'm still investigating but need feedback as this is specifically only one store and the app is only available in that country, so i can't test myself.

That was the reason i asked for a version so i can rule that issue out or focus on that. The country is told to do a reenrollment for testing if this ends up the same then I (as always) rise a ticket at the MDM.

[Moombas]

Turned out a problem on developer side but they decided now to discontinue the app. So even our problem is gone 😉

[Lizzie]

Winning! 😀 Glad this has all sorted itself out now, @Moombas. Thanks for the update. 

[Lizzie]

Thanks everyone for the regular updates and testing here, it's really appreciated. I've been highlighting this to our engineers internally. Once I hear more I'll update you. 

Thanks again,

Lizzie

[Lizzie]

Hey everyone,

It's Friday again! 😀

I have an update for you, our engineering team have been looking into this. Massive thank you to you all for your feedback and flagging this is happening. The good news is , we are currently in the process of validating a fix. 

Do let me know how you are finding it on your side. 

Thanks again, 

Lizzie