Android mobile phones as digital camersa managed by google apps for education.

[ICT_GUY]

Has anyone tried this already?

I am interested in trying android phones as cameras for the following reasons.

You don't have to have a sim card.

Google apps for education should be able to managed them (not played with this yet). Their free MDM version should be adequate.

Camera quality of a £100 smart phone is way above cheap chineseium digital cameras.

Staff can have their work gmail accounts on the phones and auto upload to google photos on that account making accessing the photos super easy.

Class dojo should work nicely.

Can locate lost phones via the MDM.

A motorola smart phone for £100 is both robust, easy to use, decent ish camera, can be made obviously a school device with a clear phone case and a logo underneath it.

Easy to take on school trips.

The MDM allows phones to be wiped, locked ect. also enforce security in case they are lost.

 

Anyhow, any feedback welcome. Any ideas on why it would or wouldn't work?

[jthompson]

Yep, we do this, with great results. Our PE and dance departments use them, with photos and videos syncing automatically to Googe Photos. It works much better for them than the old way of having video cameras and SD cards.

 

We've purchased a few refurb Pixels (6a iirc) which are nice and fast, with good cameras and another few years of software support.

 

This is how they're set up:

 

In Google Admin, add the device to the Company-owned inventory. The device's serial number will be required. This can be obtained on the device from Settings → About phone → Model → Serial number.

The Google Workspace account which will be used as the primary account on the device will need either a Google Workspace for Education Plus or a Google Workspace for Education Plus (Staff) license. We use dedicated accounts for the relevant departments (e.g. [email protected] for any Android cameras in PE).

The account will also need Android MDM options set to Advanced (this is applied to the OU in which those user accounts reside).

The device will then need to be factory reset, with the Google Workspace account signed in during the device's initial setup. This will set the entire device up as a managed device (i.e. the device will be listed in Company-owned inventory as assigned and the account on the device will be the device's primary account, not an account in a separate work profile).

The Advanced MDM options in Google Admin will allow you to govern what apps can be installed on the device, etc.

 

Staff then add the relevant account(s) as additional profiles in Chrome on their laptops. Within that profile they can open Google Photos and see the photos and videos as they're automatically backed up from the device.

 

EDIT:

We just use WiFi on them, no SIM cards.

Edited September 16, 2024 by jthompson

[rogerdnixon]

Yep - we do this as well. Just be aware advanced MDM need licences or is included in Plus.

[dhicks]

We use dedicated accounts for the relevant departments (e.g. [email protected] for any Android cameras in PE). ... Staff then add the relevant account(s) as additional profiles in Chrome on their laptops. Within that profile they can open Google Photos and see the photos and videos as they're automatically backed up from the device.

 

Ah, neat. I've also seen a couple of camera-app-for-work apps on the Android store that (by the looks of things) give the user an easy-to-select choice of destination for the photo(s) they've just taken. Handy if you want separate folders for different types of photos.

[DavR]

We were in a similar position about a year back, after experimenting with various digital cameras - any digital camera under £100 seems to absolute garbage these days. No development of the tech at all in the last ten years, it would seem.

 

We've got one Android phone on our system (WiFi only, no SIM) that only runs to take pictures, and communicate to parents with a specially authorised instance of WhatsApp, it seems to work out just fine. Didn't try Google MDM though, it's on Meraki.

 

When it came to wider use, though, we thought with the kind of money we were spending, we might as well just buy iPads, so the teachers can take advantage of other features.

[ICT_GUY]

So the current version of google apps that we have had for a very long time only has basic functionality?

[jthompson]

So the current version of google apps that we have had for a very long time only has basic functionality?

IIRC you need it turned on to Advanced MDM mode to make use of Android work profiles (which are excellent btw) and to have an Android device in total company-owned mode.

[ICT_GUY]

So much for the cheap option.

Looks like the head wants 50 ipads, miraki mdm and mac mini.

Oh well. Thanks for the info though, my other school may go down that route. :-/

[DavR]

Shiny things win out versus a good value solution, once again!

[jmak]

So much for the cheap option.

Looks like the head wants 50 ipads, miraki mdm and mac mini.

Oh well. Thanks for the info though, my other school may go down that route. :-/

On the scheme of 50 iPads, the Mac mini isn't a massive cost, but what is the proposed use? You don't need it to manage the iPads nowadays.

[Primus]

Having a Mac Mini act as a caching server for OS updates, Apps etc can still be beneficial if you have large numbers of iPads.

[ICT_GUY]

On the scheme of 50 iPads, the Mac mini isn't a massive cost, but what is the proposed use? You don't need it to manage the iPads nowadays.

 

Generally it would only be used when things go wrong with them. Doesn't happen often but it is a pain in the bum using windows and itunes. Though using itunes on a windows PC is not that bad, it still add another layer to things that apple can do to make your life harder. because it's windows not a mac.

 

More so that I will manage the MDM school manager ect all on the min via a kvm, not needed at all and not even a good reason. However having an old 2014 mac mini that has been used to fix various snafus quickly in the past was a godsend.

 

Plus and why shouldn't I get a nice shiny m4 mac mini to complement my shiny new i7 PC? /s

[ICT_GUY]

Having a Mac Mini act as a caching server for OS updates, Apps etc can still be beneficial if you have large numbers of iPads.

 

Good point well put, we used to use the old mac mini for this but it stopped working awhile back. Then again the mac mini was from 2014 :-/

[DavR]

+1 for Mac Mini for managing our iPad fleet, here.

 

There's the caching server aspect, but also, we still use Apple Configurator to re-image our iPad sets in bulk over the school holidays.

 

It's also the only legit Mac device in the school, after years of playing around with Mac VMs or Hackintoshes. It's useful for when Pages documents or whatever turn up, and other marginal cases.

[David44]

This is really useful information. Can I clarify a few things?

 

If you set up a 'Dance' user, do you also have to give the credentials for that user to your Dance teachers so they can add it as an additional account?

 

Do your users not sign in to the device with their normal account at all?

 

Yep, we do this, with great results. Our PE and dance departments use them, with photos and videos syncing automatically to Googe Photos. It works much better for them than the old way of having video cameras and SD cards.

[jthompson]

This is really useful information. Can I clarify a few things?

 

If you set up a 'Dance' user, do you also have to give the credentials for that user to your Dance teachers so they can add it as an additional account?

 

Do your users not sign in to the device with their normal account at all?

Yes, in that example, the Dance department staff would need to have credentials to sign into the 'Dance' camera Google account, adding it as an additional Chrome profile so that they can access Google Photos for the account. For MFA, you'd need to set up T-OTP and store the secret securely, so that multiple people can enter it I to their respective authenticator apps.

 

They wouldn't be using their own individual accounts at all on the Android device.

[David44]

Thanks for that.

 

Have you, or anyone else, managed to force install apps? I've created a test user in it's own OU and assigned apps to that OU and set the Access Method to 'Force Install' but the apps don't get installed. I do see them listed as 'work apps' in Google Play Store and I can manually install them and if I do, I can't uninstall them because I also ticked 'Prevent users from uninstalling the app', so I know some settings are being applied but they never seem to get forcefully installed. I have reset the phone a couple of times and left it overnight but still nothing.

Edited October 17, 2024 by David44

[PotNoodleTech]

Good thread I think this is a good idea.

[jthompson]

Thanks for that.

 

Have you, or anyone else, managed to force install apps? I've created a test user in it's own OU and assigned apps to that OU and set the Access Method to 'Force Install' but the apps don't get installed. I do see them listed as 'work apps' in Google Play Store and I can manually install them and if I do, I can't uninstall them because I also ticked 'Prevent users from uninstalling the app', so I know some settings are being applied but they never seem to get forcefully installed. I have reset the phone a couple of times and left it overnight but still nothing.

 

These are my notes on it:

 

The Managed Google Play service needs to be turned on for relevant staff user (and generic user) OUs.

Apps > Additional Google services > Managed Google Play

 

Suitable apps have been added to an allowlist to make them available to install.

Apps > Web and mobile apps.

 

The following Android apps have been configured in the allowlist to be force installed, meaning that they will be automatically installed in users’ Work Profiles.

Gmail

Calendar

Drive

 

Some Play Store collections have been compiled to assist with app discovery for EduLink, etc. See Apps > Web and mobile apps > Settings > Android app collections.

 

So to force install Google Calendar on Android, you'd need to have Managed Google Play turned on for the user and then in Apps > Web and mobile apps add the Google Calendar Android app. Open the properties of the app in that list and under User access make sure that it's on for the user(s), and then under Settings you'll want to set the Access method to Force install for the desired OU(s) or Group(s). There's a separate option there also to allow users to uninstall it.