I recently got my brand new Nexus 4 and it totally changed my opinion about Android (for the better).

I couldn’t emphasize more how Samsung ruins the Jelly Bean experience with what it does to it on the S3 – but that’s a totally different story. In short: I start to fall in love with Android since I own the Nexus 4.

One quirk that bothered me: I was unable to use Google Now. When swiping from bottom to top, no Google Now cards showed up. Also the Settings for the Google Search app had no option to turn on Google Now.

Turns out, if you’re setting up your Android phone with a Google Apps for Business account – not a vanilla Gmail one – Google Now has to be enabled by your Google Apps administrator.

Unfortunately, the settings to do so have been burdened in the Google Apps control panel to a level, where I wonder whether Google does not want us to find those or their usability engineer called in sick the day they got added.

If you came here, you might be as desperate as I was, so here is the path to enabling Google Now:

  • Launch your Google Apps control panel by going to http://google.com/a/<your custom domain>.
  • Click Organization & Users.
  • Click Services.
  • Scroll all the way down until you reach Google+.
  • Click on the Configure premium features link.
  • In the left pane select Mobile.
  • Scroll all the way down to Android settings.
  • Check the boxes for Enable Google Now and the optional Enable Lock Screen Widgets.
  • Do not forget to hit Save.

The next time you launch the Google Search app on your Android phone, Google Now will prompt you whether you want to activate the service. In case you’ve got multiple Gmail / Google Apps for Business accounts, you can select the one used for Google Now.

Below are some screenshots in case you’re still lost. If you found this helpful, you might want to add me on Google+ and Twitter.

Enabling Google Now for Google Apps for Business customers Enabling Google Now for Google Apps for Business customers