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Are employee-owned devices eligible for zero-touch?

No. Zero-touch enrolment is exclusively for company-owned devices purchased through an authorised zero-touch reseller.

Why the restriction?

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The zero-touch process works like this: when an organisation buys devices from a participating reseller, the reseller registers those devices (by IMEI or serial number) in the organisation's zero-touch portal. This registration is what triggers automatic enrolment when the device is first powered on or factory reset.

Organisations cannot add devices to the zero-touch portal themselves - only resellers can claim devices into a customer account. There is no self-service mechanism to register arbitrary devices by IMEI. The customer API allows managing configurations on devices already assigned by resellers, but it cannot add new devices.

Supported deployment scenarios

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Zero-touch supports company-owned deployment modes only:

  • Fully managed (complete corporate control, no personal space)
  • Dedicated (kiosk/single-use)
  • COPE (company-owned with a work profile for personal use)

It does not support personally-owned work profile (BYOD) enrolment. While zero-touch can deploy a work profile, this is only the company-owned variant (COPE) - not the same as a personal device with a work profile.

BYOD alternatives

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For enrolling employee-owned devices with a work profile, there are several provisioning methods that do not require reseller involvement:

  • Enrolment token link - a URL the employee opens on their device to begin setup
  • QR code - the employee scans a code from their device settings or the Android Device Policy app
  • Sign-in URL - a custom web page where the employee authenticates before provisioning starts
  • Direct download - the employee installs Android Device Policy from Google Play and enters/scans an enrolment token

All of these work for personally-owned work profile deployments. For more detail, see the provisioning methods guide.

What about Samsung KME?

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Samsung's Knox Mobile Enrolment follows a similar model - devices generally need to be purchased through a KME-participating reseller. However, KME supports work profile deployments for both company-owned and BYOD scenarios, and offers a QR code enrolment option for devices not registered by a reseller. See Does Samsung support zero-touch? for a full comparison.

What if an employee buys a device that is already registered?

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If someone purchases a second-hand device that is still registered in another organisation's zero-touch portal, the device will display a "Your device at work" screen on first boot or after factory reset. The new owner cannot remove the registration themselves - they need to contact the previous organisation (whose details may be shown on screen) and ask them to unclaim the device from their zero-touch portal.

Buying second-hand devices

This is an increasingly common issue with the second-hand device market. Before purchasing used Android devices, it is worth verifying that the device has been deregistered from any zero-touch or KME portals. Unlike Factory Reset Protection, which is tied to a Google account and can be cleared with the correct credentials, zero-touch registration can only be removed by the organisation or reseller that registered it.

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General
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Work profile
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FAQ
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