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Introduction to Android Device Management

Esper gives you full visibility and control over every Android device in your fleet, from a single device in your lab to thousands in the field. This article walks through the key stages of Android device management in Esper: provisioning, configuration, app management, day-to-day operations, and removal.

In this article:

Step 1: Provision Your Android Devices

Before Esper can manage a device, it needs to be provisioned. Provisioning is the process of enrolling an Android device into your Esper tenant and applying its initial configuration. Esper supports several provisioning methods depending on your device type and deployment environment.

Common provisioning methods include:

  • QR code provisioning. Scan a QR code generated from a blueprint or template during device setup.
  • Android Zero-Touch Enrollment. Provision devices in bulk automatically, without touching each device.
  • Knox Mobile Enrollment. Samsung-specific bulk provisioning via the Knox portal.
If you are setting up a new fleet, Zero-Touch Enrollment or Knox Mobile Enrollment reduces hands-on setup time significantly for large deployments. You need to be enrolled in those programs and have the required devices to access these provisioning methods. 

Step 2: Apply a Blueprint

A blueprint is a set of configurations (apps, settings, and policies) that defines how a device should behave. Once a device is provisioned, you assign it to a blueprint. Esper then converges the device, pushing the blueprint's configurations to the device and enforcing its desired state.

Through a blueprint, you can configure:

  • Device mode (Kiosk, Multi-App)
  • Screen settings (brightness, orientation, timeout)
  • Network settings (Wi-Fi)
  • Security policies (password requirements, ADB access)
  • Apps (which apps are installed or hidden)
  • Android debug settings and developer options
When a device's actual configuration drifts from its blueprint, Esper flags this as drift. You can converge the device to restore its desired state.

Step 3: Manage Apps on Your Devices

Esper's app management lets you install, update, and remove Android apps across your fleet. You can upload company-owned APKs directly to Esper, or connect to Managed Google Play to distribute apps to devices.

You can manage apps in a variety of ways:

  • Fleet-wide: add or update apps in a blueprint and converge to all devices assigned to that blueprint.
  • Individual device: push an app update or install directly to a single device from the device detail page.
  • Group level: install or uninstall apps from a group for targeted rollouts or beta testing.

Step 4: Monitor and Troubleshoot Individual Devices

Once your devices are provisioned and configured, you can monitor and manage each one individually from Devices & Groups. Click on a device name to open its detail page.

From the individual device view, you can:

  • View device information, including hardware specs, software versions, battery, storage, network status, and security.
  • Issue commands to reboot, lock, wipe, ping, or lock down the device.
  • Adjust settings to change screen brightness, orientation, timeout, time zone, and ADB access in real time.
  • Use Remote Viewer to view the device screen and, with Remote Control enabled, interact with it remotely.
  • Manage files by browsing, uploading, and deleting files on the device using Android File Manager.
  • Capture logs by requesting a bug report to diagnose issues without being physically near the device.
  • Check device graphs to review telemetry trends over the past seven days (battery, memory, storage, and more).
Commands sent to a device require the device to be actively communicating with Esper. A device that is offline will receive the command once it reconnects.

Step 5: Remove a Device from Esper

When a device is retired, reassigned, or needs to leave Esper management, you can remove it from the console. Depending on the device's state and your requirements, Esper offers two removal paths:

  • Remove only. Removes the device from Esper without wiping it. Use this when you plan to re-enroll the device in another tenant or redeploy it with a different configuration.
  • Remove and factory reset. Removes the device from Esper and issues a factory reset. Use this to wipe the device before decommissioning or redistributing it.
Factory reset is irreversible. Ensure any device-local data has been backed up before proceeding.

Managing Other Operating Systems

This section covers Android device management. Esper also supports iOS/iPadOS, tvOS, Windows, and Linux. See the relevant section for your OS:

 

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