In February 2018, Google launched the Android Enterprise Recommended program. This program's existence is to create a list of certified devices that are recommended for enterprises to roll out to their employees for work management. Enterprises have to manage their employees' work phones remotely, and to improve Android's reputation in the enterprise, the Android Enterprise Recommended program has continued to be tweaked since the last two years.

139 phones are now certified as Android Enterprise Recommended. Google also added a separate category for rugged devices in 2018. Those devices will get five years of security updates. In 2019, Google made it mandatory for Android Enterprise Recommended devices with Android 10 to have a separate Work tab in the app drawer instead of Work folders. Carriers are now required to support zero-touch enrollment and rapidly approve security maintenance releases.

The AER program comes with its requirements. Certified devices must receive security patch updates within 90 days, and they must support zero-touch enrollment. They have certain hardware requirements as well, such as having a battery life of 8+ hours, having at least 2GB of RAM and 32GB storage, and they should be available in an unlocked nature. The full list of requirements can be viewed here.

Device makers must satisfy these requirements for their devices to be certified. Phones from the likes of Google itself, HMD Global, Sony, LG, Motorola, Sharp, and other companies are certified as Android Enterprise Recommended. Device makers such as Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, OnePlus, and others are missing from the list, while Huawei was taken off the list as a result of the US trade ban. OnePlus aims to rectify this in 2020.

In reply to a user on its forums asking about the certification of OnePlus devices as Android Enterprise Recommended, OnePlus said that doing this was one of its goals this year. The company hopes to bring good news regarding this soon. Its aim to have its phones certified by Google makes sense. This is because it will ensure they are used by enterprises that now demand only Android Enterprise Recommended devices. If the certification is done this year, it will have a positive effect on OnePlus device users who are currently forced to use an alternative phone for work because of their company's device management requirements.


Source: OnePlus

Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the tip!