Android Work profile(Privacy and productivity on your personal device)
Published: 2022-12-21 07:04:22

**What Is the Android Work Profile?**
For those of you not familiar with Android’s work profile, it is a way for IT to provide access to work apps and resources on your Android device, while ensuring your private data is separate and not visible to IT.

Android work features are supported on Lollipop, Marshmallow, Nougat and Oreo devices and offers a dedicated work profile with security, management and application support built‑in.

In fact, the work apps have a briefcase logo on the app icon to indicate that the app has been provided by your organization. All my work apps are also organized in a “Work” folder so I can easily access it from the home screen. I can sleep soundly every night knowing that with the work profile, IT has absolutely no way of completely wiping my phone clean and deleting my personal data, such as my priceless family photos.

To get the work profile on my phone, all I had to do was install the AirWatch Agent and authenticate with my corporate credentials. As soon as enrollment was complete, I saw the creation of the work profile on my home screen with the badged work apps.


And it also enables device admins to take control of the corporate data and applications running on the device without preventing the device owner from using the primary profile functionality. For more detail click here.

Android separates business apps from personal apps so you can use your favorite Android device for both work and play.


**How do I get Set Up With Google Mobile Management and Work Profiles?**
Google’s post on the change gives detailed instructions for getting set up with Google Mobile Management and implementing work profiles. The requirements are:

Your company must be a G Suite client of any level
You must have Google Mobile Management enabled
The device must have the Lollipop, Marshmallow or Nougat version of Android
Android advanced management has been enabled
Your business has whitelisted apps it wants available for Work Profiles on Google Play

While Work Profiles are attractive for BYOD devices, the setup is admittedly cumbersome for a business without an active IT department — or for businesses with overworked IT departments. Contact UpCurve Cloud today to get us to install it for you, or to explain the benefits of using Google Mobile Management for your company Android devices.

To check the complete list of work profile feature. Click Here

To check Google app also from play store:-
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.work.clouddpc&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1

**Android Work Profile Apps and Android 12**
Android 12 represents an effort to better communicate to users how they are being tracked, and why. Of course, this impacts work profile apps. IT admins must be very careful about the information they request from users, and how they choose to manage devices.

The biggest change comes in terms of the new Privacy Dashboard feature. This provides users with a list of apps currently tracking device data. Developers can add text to justify what data they track, so users can decide whether or not to permit tracking. Still, this leaves admins in a tough position. Increased transparency requires greater communication from admins to users, so users do not feel their privacy has been violated.

Users with a work profile have the ability to approve or deny tracking permissions. While IT admins can prohibit tracking, and prevent users from enabling tracking, admins cannot force tracking on work profile apps. This means user consent is necessary for monitoring work-profile devices.

Additionally, Android 12 brings changes to the way Android Work Profile Apps are protected with security challenges. Users can now choose either to have their device password meet rigorous standards, or set an alternate security challenge exclusively for work profile apps.

**Does my device have a work profile?**
Go to Settings > Accounts. If you have a work profile, it’s listed in the Work section. On some devices, work profiles are also listed directly in Settings.

**How do I access my work apps?**
Note: Some of these steps work only on Android 9.0 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Work apps are marked with a briefcase icon so you can distinguish them from personal apps. To access your work apps:

Swipe up from the bottom of your screen to the top.

- Tap the “Work” tab.
- Tap the app that you want to open.
- If your work app icons are gray, your work profile may be paused. Find out how to pause or turn on your work profile.

**Points to be noted before started**

1. Make sure to have an Android device that supports the Lollipop version or upwards.
2. WSO2 IoT Server implements data containerization using the Android Managed Profile feature, which is only available on Android Lollipop OS version and above.
3. Do you have work profile that is already running on your device? If yes, on your device, go to Settings > Accounts and remove it. Else, you run into errors.
4. Start the WSO2 IoT Server core profile.
5. cd <IoT_HOME>/bin sh iot-server.sh

**How to work with Android Agent**
There are lots of steps to do that. Follow the steps given below to get the Android Agent.

1. Using QR CODE
Sign in to the Device Management console. Click here.
Click Enroll New Device. If you are an Admin user, click the menu icon, and select DEVICE MANAGEMENT, to access the ENROLL DEVICE button.

3. Click Android to enroll your device with WSO2 IoT Server.


4. Enroll the device.

A. Click Enroll Device.

B. Scan the QR code to download the Android agent onto your Android device.

    - You need to make sure that your Android device and the IoT Server are on the same network, else you will not be able to download the Android agent.

    - After scanning the QR code you will be directed to a web page. When this page appears, the web browser will typically display an "insecure connection" message, which requires your confirmation before you can continue.

    - The WSO2 IoT Server consoles are based on the HTTPS protocol, which is a combination of HTTP and SSL protocols. This protocol is generally used to encrypt the traffic from the client to server for security reasons. The certificate it works with is used for encryptiononly,and does not prove the server identity, so when you try to access these consoles, a warning of untrusted connection is usually displayed. To continue working with this certificate, some steps should be taken to "accept" the certificate before access to the site is permitted. If you are using the Mozilla Firefox browser, this usually occurs only on the first access to the server, after which the certificate is stored in the browser database and marked as trusted. However, with other browsers, the insecure connection warning might be displayed every time you access the server.

    - This scenario is suitable for testing purposes, or for running the program on the company's internal networks. If you want to make these consoles available to external users, your organization should obtain a certificate signed by a well-known certificate authority, which verifies that the server actually has the name it is accessed by and that this server belongs to the given organization.
5. Click Download Android Agent.

**2. Inviting via Email**
Sign in to the Device Management console. Click here.
Click Invite by Email.
Enter the email address of the users who needsto enroll their device with WSO2 IoT Server, and click Send Invite(s).
If you entered your email address, you will receive the registration email.


**3. Downloading via APK**
Sign in to the Device Management console. Click here.
Click Download APK.
Copy the downloaded file to your mobile device.
What is the use of create Android Work Profile?
There are lots of benefit using Android work profile, Which are below:-

1. Work smarter
We can all agree that when you pick up your phone (more often than we’d like to admit) to check Twitter, read text messages or change what is playing on Spotify, you do not want to constantly enter a complex passcode. With the work profile, I still get to choose what type of password I want to unlock my phone. I just unlock my phone with my fingerprint, and a complex passcode prompt is only shown to me when I try to launch an app in the work profile.

I have added my Bluetooth headphones as a “trusted device,” so when I am listening to music, I am not prompted to enter a passcode to unlock the device. However, trusted devices do not apply to the work profile. I am always shown a passcode prompt when I launch a work app, and my trusted device preferences for the personal side are not affected.

Put the power, flexibility and choice of Android to work for you — anytime, from anywhere with best-in-class productivity apps.


2. Protect personal data
I work hard to customize my phone as much as possible. Like fine-tuning the perfect Spotify playlist, it’s important to have a phone that gets your commands and gestures and can predict exactly what you’re looking for. Luckily, with the work profile, my phone still gets me, but now it gets me across my personal and professional personas.

My work apps are not downloaded using my personal Google account, so my app recommendations on my personal Play Store are not affected. I have different bookmarks for my personal and work Chrome browsers, as well. The bookmarks in my work Chrome browser are useful intranet sites, while the bookmarks on my personal Chrome browser are filled with my favorite tech blogs and news feeds.

With the work profile, my phone still gets me, but now it gets me across my personal and professional personas.

I even get different predictions from my work Chrome browser versus my personal. On my work Chrome browser, when I type the letter “V,” I get a prediction back about VMware, whereas on my personal Chrome browser, when I type the letter “V,” I get back something related to virtual reality or video games.

Set up a dedicated work profile for business content that never mixes with your personal stuff, so IT can’t see or erase your photos, emails, or other personal data.

3. Control data and privacy
For devices running Ice Cream Sandwich through Kitkat, or that don’t run work profiles natively, we’ve created the Android for Work app. The app, which delivers secure mail, calendar, contacts, documents, browsing and access to approved work apps, can be completely managed by IT.

If you leave the company or your device is lost, IT will erase just the work apps, leaving your personal stuff intact. IT can also never view your personal activities.

4. Enjoy a familiar experience
The briefcase icon is present throughout the Android experience, not just in the work folder. When I receive a notification from a work app, it has the briefcase icon so I know it’s work related.

If I search for a work contact within the personal Phone app, they are shown separate from my personal contacts and personal directory integrations (and have the briefcase icon). In the Recent Apps view, apps from the work profile have the word “Work” added in.

There’s no learning curve when you bring your own device to work. The work features in Android enhance the native interface without changing the experience you love.

5. Separate work and personal apps
It is initially glaring to see two icons on the home screen for the same app, but once you start using it you’ll wonder what you did without it. This is a fact I quickly realized when I picked up a different enrolled device and was constantly switching between work and personal accounts on the Microsoft OneNote app, accidentally saving my grocery list on my work OneNote account.

Here’s an example of how I use the separate apps. I have the Photos app in the work profile and a personal Photos app. My Photos app in the work profile is filled with pictures of whiteboard artwork from various meetings, and none of these pictures show up in my personal Photos app.

Once you start using it you’ll wonder what you did without it.

This is very helpful because I don’t see these whiteboard pictures as an option when I try to share media with my friends on WhatsApp (which is not in the work profile). However, when I open Slack (which is in the work profile), I can easily share the whiteboard photos with my colleagues. Similar reasoning applies for pictures of receipts I use for expense reporting in Concur.


It’s easy to tell what other business apps you can share with using work app badges, sharing restrictions and separate work notifications.

6. Get business apps on Play
Google Play for Work allows businesses to securely deploy and manage apps across all users running Android for Work, simplifying the process of distributing apps to employees and ensuring that IT approves every deployed app.

Work quickly and effectively using the best work apps around. The entire catalog of Google Play premium business apps is available for download.

7. Turn off work
This has got to be one of my favorite features with the work profile. It seems so unbelievably obvious and makes you wonder why all platforms don’t have it. You can TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS FROM WORK APPS!

There is a handy toggle when you swipe down from the top, or through the Settings app. So when I am on vacation, I am not inundated with work email notifications and Slack messages.

With work mode in Android 7.0 Nougat, you can disable your work apps and hide work notifications on weekends, nights or any time you don’t want interruptions.


8. Use built-in business apps
For everyday business tasks, we’ve created a suite of business apps for email, contacts and calendar, which supports both Exchange and Notes and provides document editing capabilities for documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Android at work comes pre-installed with productivity apps from Google including email, contact, calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

**How to Disable work profile**
To disabled work profile just Tap on work profile toggle button to off and all work profile related apps will be disabled. For full detail, Click here.


**How to Delete work profile**
To deactivate Android Work Profile:

Navigate to Settings > Accounts on your device.
Click Remove work profile. (Here app is Company Profile)

3. Tap DELETE and proceed with the deactivation.


Once the deactivation is complete, navigate to the launcher of the device. Notice the disappearance of the applications with red icons.


For more detail to delete profile, Just [click here](https://www.hexnode.com/mobile-device-management/help/how-can-you-remove-the-work-profile-from-a-managed-android-device/).