Items tagged with Google-Play-Store
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 can steal text messages, contact lists, and device information and then subscribe users to unwanted paid and premium services. Thankfully, thousands of Android applications infected with Joker have been taken down from the Google Play Store in the past several years, but it does not seem that this was enough. Since September of 2020, when the last wave of Joker takedowns happened,...
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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 therefore “pre-announcing” an upcoming safety section in Google Play to allow people to know how their data is being collected and used. Working closely with developers, Google will be giving people transparency and control over their own data soon. This will be done through simple means of communicating app safety which are easy to understand for an end-user...
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Android has millions of users around the world, and a percentage of those users are children. When it comes to making apps for kids, developers have to abide by government rules like the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as Google’s own rules. When apps do not follow these rules to the letter, they get reported and swiftly removed from the Android app store, like Princess Salon, Number Coloring, and Cats & Cosplay have. These three apps have become the center of attention after a nonprofit digital watchdog, International Digital Accountability Council (IDAC), found the apps breaking the rules. The apps could...
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Speaking of Google Glass and hacking, the new $1,500 spectacles, which are as yet only available to a select group of “Explorers”, have already been hacked. Tweets from Liam McLoughlin (also known as Hexxeh), who works for Google on the Chrome side of things indicate that he found a way to do it, and although he doesn’t say for sure that he rooted the specs yet for fear of breaking them. He did, however, tweet that he found a debug mode that seems to give him ADB access, and a reboot-loader offers a way to root the device through fastboot OEM unlock. Jay Freeman (@saurik) doesn’t think that the fastboot OEM unlock necessarily offers root access, but he’s definitely...
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Enticing new hardware isn’t all that Google unveiled today at its Google I/O conference; the company also announced the latest version of Android as well as updates to the Google Play Store and Google+. Although it’s not Android 5.0 (which is fine, since plenty of users still haven’t sniffed Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich), Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is here. Amid some small performance upgrades such as better finger anticipation, a “smarter” keyboard, minor UI tweaks, there are some substantial upgrades to the mobile OS--some of which are virtually identical to new features found in Apple’s recently-announced iOS 6. For example, Android users will now be able...
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We suppose it was only a matter of time, really, before Google took stock of its media, entertainment, and app stores and decided to roll them up into one unified product. Today, the company is unveiling the Google Play Store, which combines Google’s Android Market, Music, and eBookstore into one ball of wax. Simply put, Google Play gives you access to music, books, movies, and apps in one place. Even better, like other Google products such as Google Docs and Gmail, it’s designed to be available with a single sign-on across all your devices and the Web. Thus, you can acquire content from Google Play via your desktop Web browser, phone, or tablet and enjoy it on any of those devices...
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