Items tagged with google play store
How much data are Android apps gathering from your device? A recent study concluded that over 1,000 Android apps are able to take a user’s data even if that user has denied permissions. These apps are able to harvest geolocation data and other identifiers. Researchers at the International Computer Science Institute studied 88,000 apps from the Google Play store and discovered that 1,325 of these apps are able to gather data even if they have been denied permissions. Their research was presented at the Federal Trade Commission's PrivacyCon this past June. Serge Egelman, director of usable security and privacy research at ICSI, remarked at the conference that, "If app developers can just...
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Google can't seem to figure out how to stop nefarious developers from offering apps via Google Play that are filled with malware and adware. In April, word surfaced that apps with ties to a group called DU Group were committing click fraud and amassed over 50 million downloads. A new group of apps with far more downloads with ties to China is now wreaking havoc and allegedly making some Android devices almost unusable. Researchers from mobile security firm Lookout have announced that 238 apps on Google Play with an aggregate of over 440 million downloads have been found to contain the BeiTaAd plugin. That plugin is a strain of adware that can make Android devices incredibly difficult to use once...
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The U.S. government's war on Huawei – which has risen to become the world’s second-largest smartphone OEM -- has just taken a rather interesting turn. According to a report out this afternoon, Google has suspended its business operations with Huawei following the Trump Administration's recent move to add the Chinese-based company to a trade blacklist. In effect, U.S. companies are now forbidden from working with Huawei over fears that it is in cahoots with the Chinese government to spy on U.S. interests and its allies (both in the consumer sector and in government operations). According to a Reuters report, Huawei will "immediately lose" access...
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Who doesn’t love free credits? Google is currently offering $1, $2, $3 or $5 credits to some Play Store users. You may not be able to “make it rain”, but you may be able to nab an app you have been eyeing. Google appears to be offering a $2 credit to consumers who purchased a Pixel 3 or 3 XL. It also seems to be offering $1, $3, or $5 credits to other users, but it is unclear why. If you have received a credit, you will see a blue banner with an opened present illustration. You will need to scroll down past the first few sections of app recommendations to find the banner. Once you have clicked on the banner, simply tap “confirm” to receive your free credits. You...
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Google is trying to do it best to ensure that Android users have an enjoyable app experience. The company has ramped up efforts to irradiate spam apps and malware from the Play Store, and now it is bolstering efforts to disincentivize apps that are known to crash or cause other problems on Android devices. In this case, Google says that it has “enhanced [its] search and discovery algorithms to reflect app quality”. Google has found that the majority of users that leave 1-star reviews for apps complain about instability issues, leading to frequent crashes. As a result, Google is using a combination of artificial intelligence and human curation to analyze poorly performing apps and downrank them...
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