How can I prevent an app being uninstalled from the Play Store? In our organisation, we are providing Android tablets to some users. There is an app we have installed on the devices that we don't want users to be able to remove.

I have searched for "app lock" in the Play Store, and tried the various 'app lockers' which password protect the apps I choose.

If I then use the Android menu to try to uninstall an app that I have protected with the app locker app, it prompts for a password - which is good.

But, if I go into the Play store app and try to uninstall through there, it removes it straight. And I don't want to password protect the Play store. Is there any way to prevent uninstallation of certain apps in a foolproof way?
One way to achieve what you want would include the following steps:


(temporarily) rooting the device
converting the app in question into a system app (e.g. using Titanium Backup ★ root, but there are also other apps helping you with this step)
unroot the device again


As the app now resides in read-only space (/system), the user cannot delete it without either rooting the device or flashing a ROM -- which of course could be done, but it's a higher inhibition threshold at least.