Items tagged with Google-Play
Android spyware dubbed Mandrake is back after being caught in 2020, managing to sneak back into the Google Play Store in 2022 and remaining available until spotted by Kaspersky in April of 2024. During those two years, Mandrake managed to accumulate 32,000 victims with the distribution of several apps, with the most...
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Several months ago, Microsoft began testing Android apps on Windows 11 PCs. Those who run Windows 11 can already download and use apps from the Amazon App Store, but Google Play isn’t officially supported. However, the Android-maker announced in December it would bring Google Play Games to PC. Now, it’s launched a...
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Cloned apps can be a serious problem as developers try to protect their copyrights and revenue streams. The makers of PUBG Mobile are embroiled in that sort of struggle. Krafton and PUBG Santa Monica are suing Apple and Google over a copycat game, along with the maker of the clone and YouTube.
In 2017, the...
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Mobile gaming and non-game app adoption and spending really took off in 2020. However, market trend started normalize in 2021, and worldwide consumer spending should reach $133 billion on in-app purchases, premium apps, and subscriptions. That includes spending on both the iOS App Store and Google Play, but Apple is...
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Remember just this past Wednesday when Microsoft made the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) available to Windows 11 Insiders? If not, go read that story first—the context is important. One of the myriad frustrations of WSA is that users are required to use the Amazon app store rather than the Google Play store that...
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Late last month, Epic Games submitted an amended complaint against Google, which ended up being heavily redacted. However, it appears that Google has lifted some of the redactions, giving us a better insight into the arguments at hand, though much has still been left out.
In the filing, submitted on August 5th...
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In late June, Google began the phaseout of Android Application Packages (APKs) in favor of Android Application Bundles (AABs). With these changes and improvements for developers, the Mountain View-based company is now introducing the Android Game Development Kit (AGDK), “a full range of tools and libraries to help you...
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Google Stadia is an easy way to access and play many games, from virtually anywhere via the cloud, provided you do not have a powerful PC or console on hand. And it appears the service is getting better as Stadia for Android is preparing something called “bridge mode”, which will allow gamers to use their smartphones...
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Privacy and security have become Google’s modus operandi after the company announced a Password Manager for Android, iOS, and Chrome the other day. Now, the Android arm of Google is taking steps to make Google Play a more “safe, trusted space for billions of people to enjoy the latest Android apps.” The company is...
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Contrary to some beliefs, mobile devices are vulnerable to malware, such as recent spyware that was posing as an Android system update. Today, researchers have disclosed a new piece of mobile malware that hides in a fake application and is spreading itself through WhatsApp. This is just the latest reminder that people...
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As the Apple and Epic Games battle rages on, regular consumers and even lawmakers are starting to notice and weigh in on the situation. This includes the Arizona House, which introduced House Bill 2005 making it illegal to force an Arizona-based developer to use an app store’s payment processing service.
According...
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Billions of people worldwide use Android daily to learn, work, and play. As such, people have come to expect upgrades and improvements to the operating system over time. To make this happen, Google has started work on Android 12 and released a developer preview of the OS to get it polished before launch. With the...
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As the WallStreetBets fiasco heated up yesterday, Robinhood and other companies were restricting free trade of GameStop and AMC stocks under the guise of “helping users.” Since then, people have been outraged, enough so to initiate class-action lawsuits against the stock-trading app. Individual users are also now...
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Google is going loud with new regulations to get their app store developers in line. With a possible new update to guidelines, Google emphasizes the 30% cut of purchases and leveling the playing field by making apps that skirted the rule come into compliance.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Google...
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Google is facing a serious issue with privacy and malicious apps on the Google Play store for Android users. The company recently kicked 85 apps that were malware-laden off the Play Store, and has now announced that the removal process for any apps that ask for SMS or Call Log permissions is beginning for developers...
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Is your smartphone secretly recording your screen activity? It turns out that conspiracy theorists may have some justification for their concern. Computer scientists from Northeastern University determined that some apps do violate a user’s privacy by quietly capturing pictures, videos, and recorded...
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Will the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have a notched display, as is the growing trend among Android devices, or will it skip the notch and use a more traditional bezel design at the top? The answer to that question might simply be 'Yes!', though that requires further explanation. Here it is—among a series of leaks and...
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If you have never listened to an audiobook, you are missing out on one of the better types of entertainment for long trips or people who drive a lot. The biggest name in audiobooks right now is Audible and it has been for a long time. However, Google wants people to think first of Google Play when they want a new...
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Last Friday mobile gamers got a surprise when PUBG Mobile launched in Canada. At the time the game launched in The Great White North, the only way for U.S. gamers to partake in the fun was to change their region and download the game. PUBG Mobile has now officially landed in the U.S. and the game is available on both...
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Gamers in the Great White North got a surprise this week as without warning and with no fanfare, PUBG Mobile landed on the Google Play store in the country. This launch highlights the promise that the developer made to get the game on all major platforms. The game is an officially licensed mobile version and the soft launch is viewed as an
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Symantec has issued a warning that it found at least eight different apps on Google Play that were infected with a malware called Android.Sockbot. The apps all posed as add-ons for Minecraft: Pocket Edition and claimed to change the way characters look in the game with new skins. The infection from these apps was...
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Anyone who has driven an Android smartphone any distance whatsoever has no doubt wondered whether any of the apps they use could be serving as information conduits. The relaxed vetting process that the Google Play Store has in place ('relaxed' versus the jailer-esque process in use by those minding Apple's app store)...
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