All changes for the Play Store
Google is clearly aiming to make Android more and more like the iPhone. We’ve seen several announcements of iPhone-like features in recent months, and Android 15 promises the most comprehensive set of privacy and security updates in a single release.
But one battleground where Android continues to trail the iPhone by a considerable distance is app safety and security. Despite its best efforts, Google is failing to keep dangerous apps from the Play Store out of the headlines. And while its excellent Google Play Protect feature does a great job keeping many users safe, the threat is getting worse. But now it seems that Google is more serious about fixing the problem once and for all.
Yes, Android 15 will bring “live threat detection” to use artificial intelligence on devices to “analyze behavioral signals related to the use of sensitive permissions and interactions with other apps and services” and quickly flag perpetrators. But while this shortens the time between a misbehaving app and its being reported and removed, it doesn’t solve the problem of it getting into the Play Store.
Forget the impending mass deletion of apps from the Play Store, which Google has just reviewed and confirmed will now last just six weeks: “We’re updating our spam and minimum functionality policies to ensure apps meet higher standards for the Play catalog and engage users through quality features and content user experience.”
As of August 31, app types in Google’s search engine will include those “that are static without app-specific features, such as text-only apps or PDF files, apps with very little content, and that do not provide an engaging user experience, such as apps with one wallpaper and apps that are designed to do nothing or have no function.” There are literally millions of them – some no doubt on your own phone.
Google is being smart here and raising its quality threshold. We’ve seen several recent examples of empty but seemingly harmless apps making it to the Play Store and then either being used as a conduit for other malware apps, or more recently being used as decoys for those alternatives.
Low quality apps are set for a major cleanup
Assuming that most of the dangerous apps in the Play Store have little legitimate purpose, then this is an excellent approach to tightening the net. While app cleaning is nothing new for Google, this time it looks different. Some popular apps with millions of installs are also expected to be affected, and some legitimate apps that have low quality levels will also fail to break through.
For developers, Google warns that apps must “provide a stable, responsive, and engaging user experience… Apps that crash, lack a basic degree of adequate utility as a mobile app, lack engaging content, or exhibit other behavior inconsistent with a functional and engaging user experience environment is not allowed on Google Play.”
These are not the only changes that will take effect in the Play Store with regard to increased security. Google’s July 17 policy changes include improved malware prevention — including a mandate that developers must remove third-party code from providers known to distribute malware, regardless of the code itself, as well as new spyware prevention rules and stricter enforcement in all areas.
None of this should come as a surprise to developers, and they have six weeks to assess whether or not they are in compliance. Gone are the days when Google encouraged third-party stores and users to download apps regardless of origin. We’re fast approaching Play becoming as close to a semblance of Apple’s App Store as we’ve ever seen.
Meanwhile, if you can’t get enough of those shoddy flashlights, horoscopes, PDF and QR code readers, and quizzes, then maybe it’s time to stock up.