Google Adds Work Chrome To The Play Store For Reasons Not Immediately Apparent

The idea behind Google’s Android Work effort is to allow users of enterprise devices (whether BYOD or company-provided) to use the apps they’re familiar with in one unified experience that keeps work and personal data separate. Work data will stay secure, with Android Work providing restrictions and controls for what can be done with the data, while personal data is readily accessible without needing to install any special third-party apps or launchers. An organization’s administrators can deploy and administer apps in bulk, including internal apps, through the Play Store.

The Android Work badge made its very first appearance in Google’s Play Store lineup today, with the introduction of Work Chrome. This is interesting first because it’s the only app Google’s publicly listed with the badge, but also because managed profiles already get a badged (managed) Chrome, as long as the option to manage Chrome is turned on.

With that in mind, it’s not immediately clear why a separate Chrome app, which shares the same description and change log as the standard counterpart, needs to exist in the Play Store.

Our current guess is that Work Chrome has been added as an app that organizations can deploy to managed devices, as – even on a managed device – attempting to install the app by oneself will result in errors. Beyond that, we’re not sure. To see the listing for yourself, hit the widget below.