Items tagged with Google Play
One app on the Google Play store has sent users’ contacts to a Russian server on the sly. Then, it signed them up for expensive subscriptions. That one app has already been downloaded half a million times. If you’re among those 500,000 users who downloaded the app, you’d best delete it now. The app is called Color...
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Did you watch The Game Awards last night? If you did, then you probably already know this, but if not, here's the deal: Google is bringing its Play Games app to Windows PCs next year. That essentially means you'll have one more PC gaming store to look at, on top of Steam, GOG, Origin, UPlay, Bethesda, Rockstar...
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Netflix officially announced its intentions to enter the extremely lucrative gaming industry this past July. Following up on that, Netflix yesterday tooks it is first step into the already very competitive mobile platform that will include five mobile games at the outset.
Netflix will begin its mobile gaming...
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The Epic Games fight against anticompetitive Apple and Google is still alive and kicking, as Epic now filed a new complaint against Google. The update adds some redacted details about Google’s allegedly anticompetitive behavior and how Epic Games believes that Google is massaging its own statements to conceal “the...
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The billing fraud and SMS-stealing malware known as Joker has returned to the Google Play Store after having its ups and downs dating back to 2017. Researchers now say Joker has a new bag of tricks and can avoid Google’s app-vetting process and sneak onto the market.
Disguised within legitimate-looking apps, Joker...
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In 2018, Google launched the Android App Bundle, a new publishing format that “offers a more efficient way to build and release” an app. Since then, Android developers worldwide, like those at Adobe, Duolingo, Netflix, and Twitter, have taken advantage of this with approximately 1 million different apps. Now, Google...
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Android app developers take note, Google is implementing new guidelines for how apps can be displayed and advertised in the Play Store. The new policies are aimed at preventing apps from misleading Android users with certain buzz words and graphics, like plastering a "Sale" banner across the app's icon in the Play...
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There is a new app in Google Play that is a potential boon for Android handset owners, and it comes directly from Google. You might not recognize its potential by its name alone, however—it is called WifiNanScan, and what it does is measure the distance between two smartphones using the Wi-Fi Aware protocol. So what's...
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Security researchers at Trend Micro say they have uncovered "several vulnerabilities" within an Android application that has been downloaded more than 1 billion times from Google Play. The app is called SHAREit by Smart Media 4U, and it is designed to make transferring photos, videos, music, and other things a snap...
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The popular online stock trading app Robinhood is back down to a dismal one-star user rating in Google Play, as the platform continues to draw heavy criticism after it limited the ability to trade certain stocks following a surge in activity driven by the WallStreetsBets subreddit. And this time around, Google will...
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If you are a fan of the Star Wars universe and the popular Mandalorian series on Disney+, boy do we have an app for you. Google and Lucasfilm worked together to bring "Mando" himself into your living room through the power of augmented reality. You can get this app on select 5G phones today and obtain new experiences...
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Malware known as Joker is no laughing matter, especially if you have downloaded an infected app that could bring its payload. The Zscaler ThreatLabZ research team recently discovered seventeen Android apps with Joker malware. These particular apps were stealing device information, contacts lists, and SMS messages and...
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The researchers at Check Point Security are warning about a new strain of the Joker Dropper malware that has found its way into the Google Play Store (again). Unfortunately for unassuming Android users, Joker is a rather old piece of malware dating back to 2017, which keeps "reinventing" itself to circumvent security...
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The security research team at Comparitech has conducted an audit of hundreds of thousands of apps on the Google Play store. The research team found common misconfigurations on Google Firebase databases that allow unauthorized parties to find and access personal data of users. Firebase is one of the most popular...
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Epic and Google have long aired their dirty laundry in a public feud over how much money the latter takes in profits from games in the Google Play Store. Now, Epic Games has finally caved and is putting Fortnite on the Google Play Store, but it's not at all happy about it. When Fortnite for Android launched, Epic...
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There are a bunch of movie streaming services out there for people to choose from to watch movies and TV shows on the go and at home. Google is gearing up to get into the streaming movie segment in a much bigger way with ad-supported free movies. The tip on the free movies comes from an APK teardown.
As it stands...
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As with many things in life, when it comes to mobile app security, you win some and you lose some. So it goes for Google and its Play Store. A new 2019 Mobile App Thread Landscape Report put together by RiskIQ pegs the Play Store as being the second most dangerous place to download apps, in terms of the number of...
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Android Trojan xHelper haunted the Google Play Store in 2019. After several months, it appeared that the malware had disappeared. Unfortunately, xHelper was not dead but only sleeping. Security researchers at Malwarebytes Lab recently discovered that xHelper was once again infecting devices and that its reinfection...
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It as seems as Google is getting its ducks in a row in preparation for its Stadia cloud gaming service going live later this month. Ahead of Stadia's launch on November 19, Google has made available a Stadia app for Android in the Play Store. Anyone who owns a compatible handset can head over there right now and...
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Adware is rampant in app stores. Google, Apple, and others frequently take down malicious apps, but it can be difficult to determine who published these apps in the first place. ESET researchers recently discovered not only a year-long adware campaign, but the developer behind it.
ESET researchers found a total of...
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A new app called Gradient has gone viral. The point of the app is to take a picture of you and then gradually match you with your celebrity look alike. It's certainly not the first app of the sort that is meant to show users who their celeb look-alike is, among other things. Gradient is available for iOS and Android...
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The number of malicious Android apps that make it to the Google Play store continues to grow at an alarming rate. Sophos has issued a new report regarding 15 apps on Google Play that are abusive and designed to do nothing but serve ads to smartphone users. On top of spamming users with ads on their mobile devices...
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