Configuring G Suite account disables SwiftKey and GBoard on Samsung Galaxy S9+

[Cosmin Petrenciuc]

I just switched from Microsoft Lumia 950 XL to Samsung Galaxy S9+. After awhile I got accustomed with the new OS way of functioning. The company I work for uses GSuite for collaboration and communication. When I configured my G Suite account on my smartphone, after the workspace has been created, I observed that it disabled both SwiftKey and GBoard keyboards. It left me only with Samsung Keyboard which I do not like.

I have reached to Samsung Romania support team and they looked at my problem but couldn't figure it out. I have reached our IT administrator and asked him if there is some strange company policy that disables those keyboards. The answer was no.

Further more, SwiftKey keyboard works perfectly on other colleagues smartphones with Android Oreo and G Suite. This is why I do not think this problem has something to do with the G Suite policies (SwiftKey works in G Suite workspace on Xiaomi and OnePlus smartphones).

If I remove the workspace from my Galaxy S9+ the SwiftKey works perfectly.

I'm thinking now that there might be a problem in Google Device Policy app. Maybe the Galaxy S9+ is such a new device that it is not correctly recognized by this app. Or perhaps the combination of Samsung Knox and Google Device Policy is the culprit.

Does anybody have any ideas? Do you know if I could reach the support team for Google Device Policy app?

Thank you,

 

[claykin]

ask your IT admin to check policy for non essential apps on Android/mobile.

 

[JHBThree]

I just switched from Microsoft Lumia 950 XL to Samsung Galaxy S9+. After awhile I got accustomed with the new OS way of functioning. The company I work for uses GSuite for collaboration and communication. When I configured my G Suite account on my smartphone, after the workspace has been created, I observed that it disabled both SwiftKey and GBoard keyboards. It left me only with Samsung Keyboard which I do not like.

I have reached to Samsung Romania support team and they looked at my problem but couldn't figure it out. I have reached our IT administrator and asked him if there is some strange company policy that disables those keyboards. The answer was no.

Further more, SwiftKey keyboard works perfectly on other colleagues smartphones with Android Oreo and G Suite. This is why I do not think this problem has something to do with the G Suite policies (SwiftKey works in G Suite workspace on Xiaomi and OnePlus smartphones).

If I remove the workspace from my Galaxy S9+ the SwiftKey works perfectly.

I'm thinking now that there might be a problem in Google Device Policy app. Maybe the Galaxy S9+ is such a new device that it is not correctly recognized by this app. Or perhaps the combination of Samsung Knox and Google Device Policy is the culprit.

Does anybody have any ideas? Do you know if I could reach the support team for Google Device Policy app?

Thank you,

Probably device policy. Theoretically a keyboard app could log keystrokes which is why it's probably blocked. Your IT department would have to fix it on their end.

 

[cliberti]

Only if you set up the work profile. I ran into the same issue. If you do not setup the work profile you can install it

 

[cliberti]

And by that I mean setup the device policy just have it combined under your personal profile. If you set a work profile you can’t install a 3rd party keyboard

 

[Cosmin Petrenciuc]

And by that I mean setup the device policy just have it combined under your personal profile. If you set a work profile you can’t install a 3rd party keyboard

Thank you very much. I was a bit against allowing the IT admin to control my entire smartphone. I would have preferred to give access to IT admin only to the workspace.
But if you say it works if I do not set a workspace I give it a try.

 

[Cosmin Petrenciuc]

ask your IT admin to check policy for non essential apps on Android/mobile.

Thank you. I'll do that.

 

[Cosmin Petrenciuc]

Probably device policy. Theoretically a keyboard app could log keystrokes which is why it's probably blocked. Your IT department would have to fix it on their end.

You would think that's the case but again how come that my colleagues with Xiaomi, Huawei and OnePlus smartphones can use SwiftKey in conjunction with the G Suite account? They do not have specific device policies just for themselves.

 

[Rukbat]

Different manufacturers make different modifications to Android, so not all Android phones are running exactly the same firmware.

Did you try just re-enabling Swiftkey after G Suite was installed?

 

[Cosmin Petrenciuc]

Different manufacturers make different modifications to Android, so not all Android phones are running exactly the same firmware.

Did you try just re-enabling Swiftkey after G Suite was installed?

Yes, I did that. No success. I even tried to install G Board after I register the Google Suite account. No luck either.

If it would have been a firmware problem wouldn't that have meant the SwiftKey would not have worked at all on Samsung Galaxy S9+? Without G Suite account SwiftKey works flawlessly.

 

[Cosmin Petrenciuc]

And by that I mean setup the device policy just have it combined under your personal profile. If you set a work profile you can’t install a 3rd party keyboard

I owe you one. It worked if I didn't setup a work profile.

 

[Prestige Group]

I owe you one. It worked if I didn't setup a work profile.

I had this same issue on my Note 8. I added my own email to the google app and installed the admin. I then uninstalled the work profile and went through the process again. There is a step which you can skip rather than install. This is for security and admin controls/funtions. It then added my own domain email to the list of gmail accounts. No more problem disabling the swiftkey app. Now just trying to access that email and download my emails...will see how it goes

Thank you!

J

 

[strikeIII]

From my understanding is any MDM policies utilize Samsung Knox and once Knox is enabled it blocks some 3rd party keyboards.
If possible it would need to be a Knox configuration from G Suite Admin to allow it. This is why it works differently in other Android devices because they don't use Knox.

 

[Ellover]

And by that I mean setup the device policy just have it combined under your personal profile. If you set a work profile you can’t install a 3rd party keyboard

This was not true for Samsung 8. Work profile was installed, Swiftkey worked fine. With the S9+, unfortunately Swiftkey is not permitted. I suspect it is Samsung Knox, not Google Device Policy.

Have others found a workaround? I need my work profile and personal profile on this phone, however the Samsung default keyboard is horrendous. Even simple words like "you" are autocorrected to "ugly" or "tlou"!!