There are some big advantages to choosing Android over iPhone, including its much more open operating system. This allows users expansive ways to customise their devices and the ability to install more apps from unofficial sources including straight from the web. These are clearly popular features, but they have left Android devices much more vulnerable to cyber-attacks and malware, with endless warnings being released from security experts over the past few years.
It’s something Google clearly wants to get fixed with the US technology giant just announcing a massive crackdown on applications which are deemed to be dangerous.
In fact, over the past 12 months, Google has blocked a staggering 2.36 million policy-violating apps from appearing on its Play Store and banned 158,000 “bad developer” accounts from publishing apps onto its online marketplace.
“We prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being published on Google Play and banned more than 158,000 bad developer accounts that attempted to publish harmful apps,” Google confirmed in a blog post.
Along with those bans, Google says its latest security initiative stopped over a million apps from accessing excessive and unnecessary data. That means users should have less of a chance of their personal information ending up in the wrong hands.
So, how has this been achieved?
Google has continued its commitment to using human intervention to catch bad apps, but it says the bigger crackdown has been helped by advancements in AI. Artificial Intelligence is now being used to better monitor the millions of apps submitted to the Play Store each year.
“To keep out bad actors, we have always used a combination of human security experts and the latest threat-detection technology,” Google explained.
“In 2024, we used Google’s advanced AI to improve our systems’ ability to proactively identify malware, enabling us to detect and block bad apps more effectively.”
As we mentioned earlier, one of the main benefits of Android is that users can sideload apps onto their devices. This offers access to more applications no found on Google’s Play Store but it can also mean cyber criminals get an easy way to install malware onto phones.
Google says it is working hard to alert users if it thinks they have downloaded a dangerous app onto their devices – even if it’s not been downloaded from an official store.
“While the Play Store offers best-in-class security, we know it’s not the only place users download Android apps – so it’s important that we also defend Android users from more generalized mobile threats,” Google continued.
“To do this in an open ecosystem, we’ve invested in sophisticated, real-time defenses that protect against scams, malware, and abusive apps. These intelligent security measures help to keep users, user data, and devices safe, even if apps are installed from various sources with varying levels of security.”
Google’s Play Protect service automatically scans every app on Android devices no matter the download source. This built-in protection, enabled by default, provides crucial security against malware and unwanted software.
“This year, we’ll continue to protect the Android and Google Play ecosystem, building on these tools and resources in response to user and developer feedback and the changing landscape,” confirmed Google.
“As always, we’ll keep empowering developers to build safer apps more easily, streamline their policy experience, and protect their businesses and users from bad actors.”