Enable full access to Google Play for EDU users

Problem

How can you make sure students and staff are able to install any app they want from Google Play on their Chromebooks devices.

Environment

  • ChromeOS devices
  • Google Workspace for Education

Solution

Currently it is not possible to have the whole Google Play store open for accounts that use an education edition and have age-based restrictions enabled.

As and administrator you need to manually whitelist each app for users as described below:
  1. Log in to the Admin console.
  2. Navigate to Devices > Chrome > Apps & extensions > Users and browsers.
  3. Click on the yellow plus icon at the bottom right corner.
  4. Select the option with the Play Store icon. 
  5. Search for the app and click on Select.
  6. Complete the process to add it.
  7. You can either force install them or allow them. 
  8. Make sure to save the changes.

Cause

Education editions have a whitelist setup enforced by default for the Play Store on ChromeOS.