[android tablet] Managing Google App Store

[protocol]

As part of an e-safety audit, I have been asked to look into locking down our Nexus 7 tablets that each student at our school is provided with during their time at our school.

 

This morning a parent has phoned up complaining that their child was having nightmares over the weekend due to a game they installed (which so happens to be rated as mature on the play store). At the moment the pupils are told to only install appropriate apps and teachers are supposed to check the tablets on a regular basis which doesn't happen as much as it should. There is nothing in place to prevent unsuitable apps being installed as the person I replaced struggled with locking the play store/apps down.

 

We have Meraki Systems Manager app installed on each tablet and when I login to the Meraki Dashboard I can't seem to find any option in there to filter install of apps by their rating or block an app by it's name or ID. I can prevent certain apps being installed by changing the settings on the play store itself but since the tablets are all set up so the student is the only user and therefore the owner, they can change the setting back if they know where to look.

 

For those with Android tablets how do you manage them in a school environment? Any help will be appreciated.

 

edit: I have since found out I can set a pin via the google store settings for any mature app which works but it still doesn't stop the app from running once it has already been installed. Plus it means setting the pin on each individual tablet.

Edited November 24, 2014 by protocol