1. Overview     

The app admin is an application-level role in Zoho Creator. It enables organizations to delegate the administration of individual applications to users without granting account-level administrative access.

An app admin has complete control over the assigned application, including user management, deployments, backups, API management, logs, and other application-specific settings. This allows application admins to independently manage their applications while the super admin and Admin continue to govern the Creator account.

2. Use case     

Consider an organization where multiple departments use Zoho Creator to build applications for their business processes. The HR department maintains an employee onboarding application, while the Finance department manages an expense management application. Each department needs the ability to manage users, publish updates, configure API settings, monitor logs, and perform backups for their respective applications.

3. Assigning a user as an app admin     

A user can become an App admin in either of the following ways:

1. When the user who has the Create Application privilege creates an application, they automatically become its app admin.
   
2. A super admin or admin can assign the user as an app admin in one of the two ways:
   
1. When adding a new user
   
2. For existing users:
   
1. From the App Summary section
   
2. From the Users section
   

3.1 Assigning  a new user as app admin

You can assign a new user as an app admin while adding them to the Creator organization.

1. Navigate to Users under the Manage section in the left pane.
   
2. Click Add User.
   
3. Enter the user's email address and name in the Add User slider.
   
4. (Optional) Enable the Create Application privilege toggle if the user should be allowed to create applications.
   
5. Click the App Admin sub-tab under the Add to Application section.
   
6. Select the applications for which the user must be assigned as an App admin. To assign additional applications, click + Add Application.
   
7. Click Add User.
   

The user will receive an invitation email. After accepting the invitation, they can access the assigned application with App Admin permission.

3.2 Assigning an existing user as app admin 

Assigning from Users section

Use this method to assign an existing user as an app admin for one or more applications.

1. Navigate to Users under Manage section
   
2. Select the required user, the user's detail view will slide in from the right.
   
3. Click the App Admin tab under Application section and click +Add Application.
   
4. Select the required application and click Add. You can add multiple applications in the same fashion.
   

The user will be assigned as an app admin for all the selected applications.

Assigning from application's Users section

Use this method to assign an existing user as an App admin for a single application.

1. Click Solutions under Deploy section. Hover over the required application's card, click the ellipsis icon and select Summary.
   
2. In the Users section, click the down arrow next to Add User, then select Add App Admin.
   
3. Enter one or more email addresses separated by commas.
   
4. (Optional) Enable the Send email notification toggle to notify the users.
   
5. Click Add.
   

The specified users are assigned as App admins for the application and can immediately access and manage it. Only existing users in the Creator organization can be added this way.

4. What an app admin can do     

App admins can perform the following actions for the applications they administer.

5. Things to know     

5.1 Relationship with Create Application privilege  

The app admin role and the Create Application privilege are independent permissions.

The Create Application privilege allows users to create new applications. Whenever a user creates an application, they automatically become its App admin.

Removing the Create Application privilege prevents the user from creating new applications but does not remove their App admin access for applications they already administer.

5.2 Scope of app admin access   

App admin permission are limited to the applications for which the user has been assigned as an app admin.

An app admin cannot:

1. Access applications which they are not assigned to
   
2. Add new users to the Creator organization
   
3. Assign or remove App admin role
   
4. Grant or revoke the Create Application privilege
   

These actions can only be performed by the super admin or admin.

5.3 Managing application users  

App admins can assign existing Creator users in the organization to the applications they administer and manage their permissions within those applications.

If a user is not already part of the Creator organization, they must first be added by a super admin or admin before they can be assigned to an application by an app admin.

5.4 App admin vs Super admin and admin

While app admins have administrative access only to the applications they administer, super admins and admins have administrative access to the entire Creator account. The following table compares the permissions available to each role.

5.5 Multiple App admins  

An application can have multiple app admins. This allows more than one user to administer the same application.

However, app admins cannot assign or remove other app admins. Only super admins and admins can assign or revoke the app admin role.

6. Remove app admin access     

You can remove app admin access from a user at any time. Once removed, the user can no longer perform administrative actions for the application. If they are assigned another user type (such as Developer or User) for the same application, they will continue to have access to the application according to that role.

1. Navigate to Users under the Manage section in the left pane of the Creator homepage.
   
2. Click the required user to open the detail view pane.
   
3. Under the App Admin sub-tab, locate the application for which you want to remove App admin access.
   
4. Click the More   icon and select Delete next to the application. 
   
5. Click Remove in the Remove App Admin pop-up that appears. 
   

The changes are saved automatically, and the user will no longer have access to the selected application.

Note: Removing App admin access does not remove the user from the Creator organization. If the user has been assigned another role in the application or has access to other applications, those permissions remain unchanged.

1. Privilege to create application
2. Users
3. Add users