Android tablets - managing and MDM

[leegcvcc]

Morning,

 

I've searched a fair bit and can't really find any recommendations so posting for some help.

 

I have just setup ASM and Mosyle for 15 x iPads which took a long time and a big learning, but a joy to support now with updates etc 

 

I have been asked to look at 15 more, but they don't want to buy iPads and are tempted by the cheaper Android tablets available.  (we have no budget for this, so trying to achieve it on as little as possible). They also like the look of free apps in Play Store rather than Apple store where similar apps are subscription based.

 

Does anyone setup/support/update Android tablets for shared (in a dept) staff purposes? Everyone I know who has bought relatively cheap tablets bin them after a year or so, but that often suits a purpose and it's not imperative to their working life.

 

I've looked at refurbs ipads and cheaper ones than new, but they're still twice the price of some of these tablets.

 

Any recommendations for reliable tablets that aren't iPads. A bit miffed at having to setup an MDM for Android after setting up Mosyle etc.  Then there are the apps which sounds like they want a free reign to download what they like.  I do have Intune but it isn't setup for anything yet.

 

Any helpers?

 

Thanks in advance.

[lparry]

We've got quite a few samsung galaxy tab A7's in use here which work for our needs (Arbor, Emails etc. - nothing intensive really).

 

In terms of the MDM - we used Microsoft Intune but the setup of this would very much depend on what you are trying to achieve. We set all our tablets as fully dedicated kiosk devices with Entra authentication which means they don't have access to play store and the like, all app's are pushed via IT with Intune but you could set it up as just a tablet and use the MDM part of it to set WiFi networks etc.

 

Happy to give suggestions/help if you have any questions about how we have done it!

[speakercon]

Intune for Android management is pretty good to be fair, I've never tried tablets but works well for mobiles. Personally I'd avoid the android tablets having used them in the past and push for the £250 ish per iPad, will last longer most likely.

[GarethM2]

We’ve used a few Android tablets for light shared stuff and, honestly, the really cheap ones are a bit hit-or-miss — updates kinda stop after a year and performance drops. For basic stuff like forms, emails, or web apps they’re okay though.

 

You’ll want some MDM so you can push apps, WiFi settings, that kind of thing. AirDroid Business works pretty well for that, not too expensive and does kiosk mode and remote support without too much fuss. Probably best to test a few first, maybe mid-range Samsungs or Lenovos, see how they hold up before grabbing a whole batch.

[DalekSec]

Android and Intune does the job here for our phones (100+) fairly straightforward to setup and maintain

[LeMarchand]

On 12/09/2025 at 11:15, GarethM2 said:

We’ve used a few Android tablets for light shared stuff and, honestly, the really cheap ones are a bit hit-or-miss — updates kinda stop after a year and performance drops. For basic stuff like forms, emails, or web apps they’re okay though.

 

Once the updates stop you'll start to fall foul of govt guidance and when you get to purchasing "big brand" tablets you might as well start looking at iPads. Excuse me while I wash my mouth out.

 

Anyway, branching off this, one of my sites has one "reception book" iPad and two Android "one app" tablets (and no InTune). The Androids were on Miradore free but they basically locked everything away behind a paywall. We tried ManageEngine on one and were about to move the other devices over but our free trial has ended and the 25 free devices applies only to those registered before the cut off. I guess I could try to extend the trial, but we'd still be stuck if we needed to add/replace a device.

 

Anyone got anything very low priced or preferably free? I've had a glance at Fleet MDM, but it seems a bit beyond my brain power as it involves Docker + setting up your own nstance. Comodo One seemed promising, but now seems to be Itarian and not free. They need to update their site! 😠

 

 

I guess I could use Mosyle for the iPad, but would rather keep all the devices together. Really all that's needed is updating, deploying apps and preferably kiosk mode.

[Spookyville]

In light of the mobile phone ban we are introducing for students after Easter I will shortly be asked to provide two class sets of devices as cheap as possible. We already have iPads for some SEN kids managed through Mosyle. We have a set of old chrome tablets that we use in kiosk mode for reading plus purposes in the library. 

 

We will be implementing Intune this year so android tablets are an option at some point. Thinking about CE I don't envy having el cheapo android tablets to manage but cost is the driving factor here. 

 

Anybody been in the same predicament?

[lparry]

36 minutes ago, Spookyville said:

In light of the mobile phone ban we are introducing for students after Easter I will shortly be asked to provide two class sets of devices as cheap as possible. We already have iPads for some SEN kids managed through Mosyle. We have a set of old chrome tablets that we use in kiosk mode for reading plus purposes in the library. 

 

We will be implementing Intune this year so android tablets are an option at some point. Thinking about CE I don't envy having el cheapo android tablets to manage but cost is the driving factor here. 

 

Anybody been in the same predicament?

You have an idea of what exactly these devices will be doing? - Haven't been in the exact same predicament but should be able to tell you if you are in for a bad time or not!

[3s-gtech]

42 minutes ago, Spookyville said:

In light of the mobile phone ban we are introducing for students after Easter I will shortly be asked to provide two class sets of devices as cheap as possible. We already have iPads for some SEN kids managed through Mosyle. We have a set of old chrome tablets that we use in kiosk mode for reading plus purposes in the library. 

 

We will be implementing Intune this year so android tablets are an option at some point. Thinking about CE I don't envy having el cheapo android tablets to manage but cost is the driving factor here. 

 

Anybody been in the same predicament?

Yes. We bought a small number of iPads for the jobs that phones did and added them to our Jamf setup. Not been able to get my head around any sort of effective Android MDM - ChromeOS is so much better for it.

Edited March 24 by 3s-gtech