docs/html/distribute/googleplay/edu/start.jd

page.title=Publish Android Apps for Education
page.image=/distribute/images/play-education.jpg
meta.tags="education", "guidelines", "quality"
page.tags="education", "addendum"
page.metaDescription=Join Google Play for Education in just a few simple steps.

@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper"><div id="qv">
<h2>Steps to Join</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="#register">Register for a Publisher Account</li>
<li><a href="#prepare">Prepare Your Apps</a></li>
<li><a href="#publish">Publish Your Apps</a></li>
<li><a href="#related-resources">Related Resources</a></li>
</ol>
</div></div>
<p>
  If you've got great Android apps for education and want to reach even more teachers
  and students, you can join the <strong>Google Play for Education</strong>
  program in a few simple steps. You do everything using the familiar tools and
  processes in Google Play.
</p>

<p>
Note that Google Play for Education is currently available to <strong>K-12 schools in the United
States</strong> only.</p>

<p>If you have an educational Chrome app instead of an Android app, you can learn more about
Chrome Apps in Google Play for Education at <a href=
"https://developers.google.com/edu">developers.google.com/edu</a>.
</p>

<img src="{@docRoot}images/gpfe-start-0.jpg" style=
  "border:1px solid #ddd;padding:0px" width="760" height="403">

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="register">
    Register for a Publisher Account
  </h2>


</div>

<p>
  If you’re new to Google Play, review the information on <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/start.html">getting started</a> with
  publishing on Google Play. You’ll gain access to the <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/developer-console.html">Developer
  Console</a>, where you’ll manage your details, apps, and payments.
</p>

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="prepare">
    Prepare Your Apps
  </h2>


</div>

<div class="figure-right">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-edu-process.png">
</div>

<p>
  By participating in Google Play for Education you’ll be placing your apps
  before a new audience of teachers and educators. To address this audience,
  there are specific guidelines and policies your apps should meet and specific
  design considerations too.
</p>

<h3>
  Understand guidelines and policies
</h3>

<p>
  To prepare for a launch on Google Play for Education, start by reviewing the
  guidelines for educational apps in Google Play and the policies that apply to
  your apps. See the <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/essentials/gpfe-guidelines.html">Education
  Guidelines</a> for details.
</p>

<p>
  Also, make sure that you're familiar with the policies that your app must
  comply with, including <a href=
  "http://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html">content
  policies</a>, the <a href=
  "http://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html">Developer
  Distribution Agreement</a>, and <a href=
  "https://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement-addendum.html">
  Google Play for Education Addendum</a>.
</p>

<h3>
  Design and develop a great app for education
</h3>

<p>
  Great apps for educators and students <strong>offer educational
  value</strong>, are <strong>designed for K-12 classroom use</strong>,
  <strong>deliver a compelling feature set</strong>, and are refined to offer a
  polished, <strong>high-quality tablet experience</strong>.
</p>

<p>
  Assess your app against the criteria listed in the <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/essentials/gpfe-guidelines.html">Education
  Guidelines</a> and plan on supporting them to the greatest extent possible.
  In some cases you might need to modify the app’s features or UI to support
  classroom requirements. It's a good idea to identify any changes early in
  development, so that you can address them properly.
</p>

<p>
  With Google Play for Education, optimizing your apps for tablets is crucial.
  A variety of resources are available to help you understand what you need to
  do — a good starting point is the <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/essentials/quality/tablets.html">Tablet App Quality</a>
  guidelines.
</p>

<p>
  Throughout design and development, it's important to have suitable devices on
  which to prototype and test your user experience. It's recommended highly
  that you acquire 7-inch and 10-inch tablet devices and set up your testing
  environment as early as possible. The recommended 7-inch hardware device that
  replicates the Google Play for Education environment is the Nexus 7, which is
  available from <a href=
  "https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_16gb_2013">Google
  Play</a> and other stores.
</p>

<p>
  Comprehensive testing and quality assurance are key aspects of delivering
  great apps for teachers and students. Make sure you set up a <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/essentials/gpfe-guidelines.html#test-environment">proper
  test environment</a> to, ensure that your apps meet the guidelines under
  realistic conditions.
</p>

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="publish">
    Publish Your Apps
  </h2>


</div>

<p>
  Once you have designed, built, and tested your apps, you take two steps to
  publish them:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>Before you opt-in any apps, agree to the <a href=
  "https://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement-addendum.html"
    target="_policies">Google Play for Education Addendum</a>. Ensure you
    review the Addendum completely and make any necessary modifications to your
    apps.
  </li>

  <li>Publish your apps in the Developer Console as normal, but opt-in to
  Google Play for Education.
  </li>
</ul>

<h3 id="opt-in">
  Opt-in to Google Play for Education and publish
</h3>

<p>
  Once you've built your release-ready APK upload it to the Developer Console,
  create your store listing, and set distribution options. If you aren't
  familiar with preparing for launch on Google Play, see the <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/tools/launch-checklist.html">Launch Checklist</a>.
</p>

<div>
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-edu-optin-console.jpg" style=
  "border:2px solid #ddd;width:660px;">
</div>

<p>
  When your apps are ready to publish, you <em>opt-in</em> to Google Play for
  Education directly from the <a href=
  "https://play.google.com/apps/publish/">Developer Console</a>. Opt-in means
  that you want your apps to be made available to educators through Google Play
  for Education, including review, classification, and approval by our
  third-party educator network. Note that opt-in doesn’t affect the
  availability of your app in Google Play Store.
</p>

<p>
  Opt-in also confirms that your app complies with <a href=
  "http://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html" target=
  "_policies">Google Play Developer Program Policies</a> and the <a href=
  "http://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html" target=
  "_policies">Developer Distribution Agreement</a>, including a <a href=
  "https://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement-addendum.html"
  target="_policies">Google Play for Education Addendum</a>. If you are not
  familiar with these policy documents or the Addendum, make sure to read them
  before opting-in.
</p>

<p>
  Here's how to opt-in to Google Play for Education for a specific app:
</p>

<ol>
  <li>In the Developer Console <strong>All Applications</strong> page, click
  the app you want to opt-in.
  </li>

  <li>Under Pricing and Distribution, scroll down to find <strong>Google Play
  for Education</strong> and the opt-in checkbox.
  </li>

  <li>Click the checkbox next to <strong>Include my app in Google Play for
  Education...</strong>
  </li>

  <li>In the first dialog that appears, review the content policies and
  guidelines and click <strong>Continue</strong> if your app meets the the
  policies and guidelines.
  </li>

  <li>In the next dialog that appears, shown below, find the
  <strong>Ads</strong> and <strong>In-app purchases</strong> radio buttons.
  Check each option that applies. Your app's use of ads or in-app purchases
  will be shown to educators when they are browsing your app.
  </li>

  <li>Click <strong>Save</strong>f to save your Pricing and Distribution
  changes.
  </li>
</ol>

<div style="clear:both;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1.5em;width:660px;">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-edu-ads-iab.png" style=
  "border:2px solid #ddd;width:660px;">
  <p class="img-caption">
    <strong>Ads and in-app purchase</strong>: When you opt-in to Google Play
    for Education, make sure to declare your app's use of ads and in-app
    purchases.
  </p>
</div>

<p>
  Once you save changes and publish your app, the app will be submitted to our
  third-party educator network for review and approval. If the app is already
  published, it will be submitted for review as soon as you opt-in and save
  your changes.
</p>

<p class="note">
  <strong>Note</strong>: Google Play for Education is part of Google Play. When
  you publish an app that's opted-in to Google Play for Education, the app
  becomes available to users in Google Play right away. After the app is
  <a href="{@docRoot}distribute/essentials/gpfe-guidelines.html#e-value">review
  and approval</a>, it then becomes available to educators in Google Play for
  Education.
</p>

<h3>
  Track your review and approval
</h3>

<p>
  As soon as you opt-in to Google Play for Education and publish, your apps are
  queued for review by our third-party educator network. The review and
  approval process can take four weeks or more. You'll receive notification by
  email (to your developer account address) when the review is complete, with a
  summary of the review results.
</p>

<p>
  At any time, you can check the review and approval status of your app in the
  Developer Console, under "Google Play for Education" in the app's Pricing and
  Distribution page. There are three approval states:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    <em>Pending</em> &mdash; Your app was sent for review and the review isn't
    yet complete.
  </li>

  <li>
    <em>Approved</em> &mdash; Your app was reviewed and approved. The app will
    be made available directly to educators through Google Play for Education.
    Once your app is approved, you can update it at your convenience without
    needing another full review.
  </li>

  <li>
    <em>Not approved</em> &mdash; Your app was reviewed and not approved. Check
    the notification email send for information about why the app wasn’t
    approved. You can address any issues and opt-in again for another review.
  </li>
</ul>
<div class="headerLine">
<h2 id="related-resources">Related Resources</h2>
</div>

<div class="dynamic-grid">
<h3>FOR DEVELOPERS</h3>

<div class="resource-widget resource-flow-layout col-13"
    data-query="collection:distribute/googleplay/gpfe/dev"
    data-sortOrder="-timestamp"
    data-cardSizes="9x3,9x3,6x3,6x3,6x3"
    data-maxResults="8"></div>

<h3>FOR EDUCATORS</h3>

<div class="resource-widget resource-flow-layout col-13"
    data-query="collection:distribute/googleplay/aboutgpfe/educators"
    data-sortOrder="-timestamp"
    data-cardSizes="9x3"
    data-maxResults="3"></div>
</div>