How to use Google Cloud Identity free for Android Device Management

Introduction

When deploying and supporting mobile device management (MDM) solutions, it is common to see many customers and partners using free Gmail accounts or even accounts from other public email providers as a means of authenticating their corporate Android devices. While this practice may seem simple and quick at first, it poses significant security risks and makes it difficult for IT teams to centrally manage devices.

With this in mind, this article was written to show that there is a free, secure and manageable alternative : Google Cloud Identity – Free Edition . This solution allows companies to use corporate accounts under their own domain, with complete control over access and policies applied to devices. In addition to increasing security, this approach facilitates integration with MDMs such as Nomid MDM and ensures greater compliance with good identity management practices.

In this article, we explain in detail what Google Cloud Identity is, how it works, and how you can set it up for free to replace the use of personal accounts with managed accounts.

Google Cloud Identity is an Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) solution that allows you to centrally manage users and groups in your organization. By adopting it, each employee gets their own corporate account , under their domain, instead of using personal accounts (e.g. Gmail) outside of the company's control. This makes the authentication layer much more secure and manageable: the administrator can apply password policies, remote wipe, and other rules on Android devices linked to these accounts. In addition, Cloud Identity is free in the basic edition , with no additional cost for Google Cloud customers, making it a good replacement for using free emails for device logins.

The free edition of Cloud Identity allows companies to replace the use of personal or free accounts (such as Gmail) with managed corporate accounts tied to the organization’s domain. This allows each Android device to be authenticated with an identity controlled by IT, improving security, traceability, and compliance with internal policies. These accounts can be integrated with MDM solutions, such as Nomid MDM, to enforce usage and security rules on devices.

Figure: Cloud Identity associates mobile devices with organization accounts, allowing you to control corporate access and data.

With this integration, administrators can track and configure employee Android accounts via the Google console, applying security settings and ensuring that only authorized users can access corporate resources. In short, Cloud Identity transforms “mobile identity” into a manageable and secure enterprise service.

Cloud Identity Editions

Cloud Identity offers two editions, Free and Premium . For basic Android use, there is no need to purchase paid licenses: the free edition already provides everything you need at no additional cost. It allows up to 50 users (the “user cap”) per domain, meaning you can manage up to 50 corporate accounts for free. The Premium edition is only available for advanced features (such as advanced Android Enterprise management, mobile apps, advanced logging, etc.), but for most companies using only Google Cloud, the free version is sufficient.

So, for free, you replace free Gmail logins with accounts from your own domain, maintained by Cloud Identity. This makes authentication on company-owned Android devices much more manageable and secure.

Cloud Identity Free Setup

To get started with free Cloud Identity, follow these steps based on the official documentation:

1. Register a domain and sign up for Cloud Identity Free: Go to the free sign-up page and follow the setup wizard . You'll be asked to provide your company name, contact email, and other details. Then, add your organization's domain (if you don't have one already, you'll need to register a domain and verify it ). You'll be asked to prove ownership of the domain (for example, by creating a TXT/CNAME record or uploading a file to your website).
2. Create an initial admin account: During the wizard, you set up an initial admin user (for example, admin@yourdomain.com) and password. This account will be the Cloud Identity super user (super admin) for your organization. At the end of the process, Cloud Identity will be enabled for your organization and you will have access to the Google Admin console .
3. Add users in the Admin console: In the newly created Google Admin console (accessible at console.(cloud.google.com) ), go to Users and create new accounts for each employee. You can add users individually by filling in their name, email (from your domain), and other information, or import multiple users at once via CSV file. Each account you create automatically gets a free Cloud Identity license (up to 50 users). If you need more users, you can request a quota increase from Google, but 50 is usually enough for many teams.
4. Check licenses and complete setup (optional): Typically, the Cloud Identity Free license is automatically applied to each user. You can check the total number of accounts and licenses available in the Billing menu in the Admin console. Since the free edition is free, there is no charge—just make sure all users are in the correct group to receive the free license.

After these steps, users will be able to use their Cloud Identity accounts to log in to their company-owned Android devices. Nomid MDM (or any other MDM system) will recognize these corporate accounts, allowing you to apply security policies (such as VPN configuration, installation of whitelisted apps, password policies, etc.) directly from their profiles.

Conclusion

Google Cloud Identity Free provides a no-cost way to migrate from free personal accounts (Gmail) to centralized enterprise management. This greatly simplifies identity management on Android devices by centralizing logins, security policies, and compliance within your organization. By enabling Cloud Identity and creating enterprise users, you gain full control over who accesses company resources on mobile devices, improving security and easing IT administration.

To learn more about how to set up and integrate Cloud Identity with your MDM solution, visit our wiki for detailed instructions and practical examples.

Sources: Official Google Cloud Identity documentation cloud.google.com and support.google.com