By: Priya Ravichandran – Principal Product Manager & Gracey Wilson - Product Manager 2 | Microsoft Intune
A prerequisite to managing Android Enterprise devices with Microsoft Intune is that organizations must first complete a one-time onboarding process which requires admins to create and manage a consumer Gmail account. Starting in August 2024, this process will no longer require Gmail accounts. Instead, we’re happy to announce that admins will be able to use their existing Microsoft Entra credentials to complete this one-time onboarding.
Streamlined flow for new tenants
For tenants connecting or reconnecting your Microsoft Intune tenant to Managed Google Play, you can now use your Microsoft Entra credentials to complete the onboarding process. Let’s walk through the new flow.
As you work through the Prerequisites tab under Android enrollment, the new flow is invoked when you select “Launch Google to connect now”. At this point, a new tab is launched with the following screen. The Microsoft Entra credentials used to sign into the Microsoft Intune admin center will be pre-filled.
We recommend continuing with the prefilled identity and selecting the “Sign in with Microsoft” option that will follow.
Figure 1: Select "Sign in with Microsoft" to easily use your Entra identity.
The process may require email verification so if the identity or credentials used to sign in doesn’t have an email inbox, we recommend that you use a corporate email address with a mailbox to complete the onboarding. Once the onboarding flow is complete, you can add other Microsoft Intune administrators into the Google Admin console and grant them the right level of access to manage Google resources for your organization.
The Google Admin console wizard will guide you through the steps to create and set up your Google Admin account and allow Intune to manage your Android Enterprise devices.
Figure 2: To complete the account creation, you will need to select 'Allow and create account'.
Figure 3: Once the account is created, you will need to allow Intune to manage the devices for a second time.
At this point, the step to connect your Microsoft tenant to Google is complete and you can start enrolling and managing Android Enterprise devices with Microsoft Intune.
Migration for current Intune tenants
For Microsoft Intune customers who have already onboarded using a Gmail account, you can now opt to upgrade to your Managed Google Play account via the Intune admin center as of November 28th.
- To begin migration, navigate to the Android enrollment page in the Microsoft Intune admin center and select Managed Google Play:
- Select the "Upgrade" button to open a dialog.
- Select Upgrade again in the dialog that opens.
- Follow the steps in the Google-driven popup that opens. When given the option, select Sign in with Microsoft.
- Select Upgrade.
- Wait for the upgrade to complete. When you get to this screen, the upgrade has been successful!
After a successful upgrade, you will receive a notification in the admin console confirming the success, and the upgrade button will be grayed out. If the button is grayed out but you have not yet upgraded, check your RBAC permissions.
Note: If you choose not to upgrade your account, you will still be supported. There is no plan to deprecate the existing state by Google.
What is this new Google Account?
As you may have noticed, the onboarding flow creates a Google account using your corporate email address. Admins can use their Microsoft Entra credentials to log in and manage the connection between Google and Microsoft Intune, as well as other Google features. For more information, refer to How Android Enterprise connects your Google services (Google Blog).
What's next
A seamless experience that will allow you to upgrade without leaving the Microsoft Intune admin center is in the works, to be released later this calendar year. Check back on this blog for a future update when the Intune-driven experience becomes available in the Microsoft Intune admin center.
As you engage with this new experience, let us know in the comments below or by reaching out on X @IntuneSuppTeam if you have any questions or feedback so that we can work together to make this the best experience.
Post Updates:
09/09/25: Updated the sections on "Migration for current Intune tenants" and "What's next".
11/17/25: Updated the "Migration for current Intune tenants" section.
