Google is on a mission to make its App Store safer with over two million apps blocked in the past year alone.
Most Android users will be well aware of the dangers of downloading new apps onto their devices. This hugely popular operating system has long been a target for cyber criminals due to it being far more open and less locked down than Apple’s iOS. Over the past few years, there’s been a barrage of unsafe applications hitting the market with many featuring data-stealing malware, bank-raiding bugs and annoying adware that flood devices with sponsored messages.
To make things worse, many so-called ‘dodgy’ apps have even made it onto Google’s official Play Store with millions then downloading them without realising the dangers.
It’s been a major issue for Android but Google is now fighting back. The US technology giant has just confirmed that it’s blocked over two million apps from being uploaded to its Play Store in a bid to keep users safe. The firm says it’s implemented new and improved security features, policy updates as well as advanced machine learning to stop software infiltrating its store.
“We’ve made recent improvements and introduced new measures to continue to keep Google Play’s users safe, even as the threat landscape continues to evolve,” Google announced in a post on its blog.
“In 2023, we prevented 2.28 million policy-violating apps from being published on Google Play in part thanks to our investment in new and improved security features.”
Along with blocking new software from its platform, Google has also confirmed that developers who submit apps are also now required to hand over more details when establishing their accounts. Google says that these changes have already identified bad actors and fraud rings more effectively and banned 333K bad accounts.
As well as protecting Android phones that use Google’s Play Store, the Mountain View company is also trying to offer better protection for those who install applications from third-party platforms.
That’s thanks to powerful new real-time scanning that aims to combat malicious apps once they’ve been installed.
Things will hopefully get even safer in the future with Google promising that a bunch of new security initiatives will arrive this year including removing apps from Play that are not transparent about their privacy practices.
“We’re constantly working on new ways to protect your experience on Google Play and across the entire Android ecosystem, and we look forward to sharing more,” added Google.
Even with these new measures, it’s still a good idea to stay alert when downloading any new applications. Check the reviews, make sure the developer is well established and be careful what permissions you grant the software after it’s been installed.
