Android and Google Play comprise a vibrant ecosystem with billions of customers across the globe and thousands and thousands of useful apps. Preserving this ecosystem protected for customers and builders stays our prime precedence. Nevertheless, like all flourishing ecosystem, it additionally attracts its share of dangerous actors. That’s why yearly, we proceed to put money into extra methods to guard our neighborhood and battle dangerous actors, so customers can belief the apps they obtain from Google Play and builders can construct thriving companies.
Final yr, these investments included AI-powered menace detection, stronger privateness insurance policies, supercharged developer instruments, new industry-wide alliances, and extra. In consequence, we prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being printed on Google Play and banned greater than 158,000 dangerous developer accounts that tried to publish dangerous apps.
However that was simply the beginning. For extra, check out our latest highlights from 2024:
Google’s superior AI: serving to make Google Play a safer place
To maintain out dangerous actors, we’ve got at all times used a mix of human safety consultants and the newest threat-detection know-how. In 2024, we used Google’s superior AI to enhance our programs’ skill to proactively establish malware, enabling us to detect and block dangerous apps extra successfully. It additionally helps us streamline evaluate processes for builders with a confirmed monitor document of coverage compliance. At the moment, over 92% of our human opinions for dangerous apps are AI-assisted, permitting us to take faster and extra correct motion to assist forestall dangerous apps from changing into out there on Google Play.
That’s enabled us to cease extra dangerous apps than ever from reaching customers by way of the Play Retailer, defending customers from dangerous or malicious apps earlier than they will trigger any injury.
Working with builders to boost safety and privateness on Google Play
To guard consumer privateness, we’re working with builders to cut back pointless entry to delicate knowledge. In 2024, we prevented 1.3 million apps from getting extreme or pointless entry to delicate consumer knowledge. We additionally required apps to be extra clear about how they deal with consumer data by launching new developer necessities and a brand new “Knowledge deletion” choice for apps that assist consumer accounts and knowledge assortment. This helps customers handle their app knowledge and perceive the app’s deletion practices, making it simpler for Play customers to delete knowledge collected from third-party apps.
We additionally labored to make sure that apps use the strongest and latest privateness and safety capabilities Android has to supply. Each new model of Android introduces new safety and privateness options, and we encourage builders to embrace these developments as quickly as attainable. On account of partnering carefully with builders, over 91% of app installs on the Google Play Retailer now use the newest protections of Android 13 or newer.
Safeguarding apps from scams and fraud is an ongoing battle for builders. The Play Integrity API permits builders to verify if their apps have been tampered with or are working in probably compromised environments, serving to them to stop abuse like fraud, bots, dishonest, and knowledge theft. Play Integrity API and Play’s computerized safety helps builders make sure that customers are utilizing the official Play model of their app with the newest safety updates. Apps utilizing Play integrity options are seeing 80% decrease utilization from unverified and untrusted sources on common.
We’re additionally continually working to enhance the security of apps on Play at scale, corresponding to with the Google Play SDK Index. This device affords insights and knowledge to assist builders make extra knowledgeable choices in regards to the security of an SDK. Final yr, along with including 80 SDKs to the index, we additionally labored carefully with SDK and app builders to handle potential SDK safety and privateness points, serving to to construct safer and safer apps for Google Play.
Google Play’s multi-layered protections in opposition to dangerous apps
To create a trusted expertise for everybody on Google Play, we use our SAFE rules as a information, incorporating multi-layered protections which might be at all times evolving to assist preserve Google Play protected. These protections begin with the builders themselves, who play an important position in constructing safe apps. We offer builders with best-in-class instruments, finest practices, and on-demand coaching assets for constructing protected, high-quality apps. Each app undergoes rigorous evaluate and testing, with solely permitted apps allowed to seem within the Play Retailer. Earlier than a consumer downloads an app from Play, customers can discover its consumer opinions, rankings, and Knowledge security part on Google Play to assist them make an knowledgeable choice. And as soon as put in, Google Play Shield, Android’s built-in safety safety, helps to protect their Android gadget by repeatedly scanning for malicious app conduct.
Enhancing Google Play Shield to assist preserve customers protected on Android
Whereas the Play Retailer affords best-in-class safety, we all know it’s not the one place customers obtain Android apps – so it’s necessary that we additionally defend Android customers from extra generalized cell threats. To do that in an open ecosystem, we’ve invested in subtle, real-time defenses that defend in opposition to scams, malware, and abusive apps. These clever safety measures assist to maintain customers, consumer knowledge, and gadgets protected, even when apps are put in from numerous sources with various ranges of safety.
Google Play Shield robotically scans each app on Android gadgets with Google Play Providers, regardless of the obtain supply. This built-in safety, enabled by default, gives essential safety in opposition to malware and undesirable software program. Google Play Shield scans greater than 200 billion apps every day and performs real-time scanning on the code-level on novel apps to fight rising and hidden threats, like polymorphic malware. In 2024, Google Play Shield’s real-time scanning recognized greater than 13 million new malicious apps from outdoors Google Play1.
Google Play Shield is at all times evolving to fight new threats and defend customers from dangerous apps that may result in scams and fraud. Listed below are a few of the new enhancements that are actually out there globally on Android gadgets with Google Play Providers:
- Reminder notifications in Chrome on Android to re-enable Google Play Shield: In response to our analysis, greater than 95 p.c of app installations from main malware households that exploit delicate permissions extremely correlated to monetary fraud got here from Web-sideloading sources like internet browsers, messaging apps, or file managers. To assist customers keep protected when searching the net, Chrome will now show a reminder notification to re-enable Google Play Shield if it has been turned off.
- Extra safety in opposition to social engineering assaults: Scammers might manipulate customers into disabling Play Shield throughout calls to obtain malicious Web-sideloaded apps. To forestall this, the Play Shield app scanning toggle is now quickly disabled throughout cellphone or video calls. This safeguard is enabled by default throughout conventional cellphone calls in addition to throughout voice and video calls in widespread third-party apps.
- Robotically revoking app permissions for probably harmful apps: Since Android 11, we’ve taken a proactive method to knowledge privateness by robotically resetting permissions for apps that customers have not used shortly. This ensures apps can solely entry the information they honestly want, and customers can at all times grant permissions again if mandatory. To additional improve safety, Play Shield now robotically revokes permissions for probably dangerous apps, limiting their entry to delicate knowledge like storage, photographs, and digicam. Customers can restore app permissions at any time, with a affirmation step for added safety.
Google Play Shield’s enhanced fraud safety pilot analyzes and robotically blocks the set up of apps which will use delicate permissions continuously abused for monetary fraud when the consumer makes an attempt to put in the app from an Web-sideloading supply (internet browsers, messaging apps, or file managers).
Constructing on the success of our preliminary pilot in partnership with the Cyber Safety Company of Singapore (CSA), extra enhanced fraud safety pilots are actually lively in 9 areas – Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In 2024, Google Play Shield’s enhanced fraud safety pilots have shielded 10 million gadgets from over 36 million dangerous set up makes an attempt, encompassing over 200,000 distinctive apps.
By piloting these new protections, we will proactively fight rising threats and refine our options to thwart scammers and their more and more subtle fraud makes an attempt. We look ahead to persevering with to accomplice with governments, ecosystem companions, and different stakeholders to enhance consumer protections.
App badging to assist customers discover apps they will belief at a look on Google Play
In 2024, we launched a brand new badge for presidency builders to assist customers world wide establish official authorities apps. Authorities apps are sometimes targets of impersonation as a result of extremely delicate nature of the information customers present, giving dangerous actors the power to steal identities and commit monetary fraud. Badging verified authorities apps is a crucial step in serving to join folks with protected, high-quality, helpful, and related experiences. We accomplice carefully with international governments and are already exploring methods to construct on this work.
We additionally not too long ago launched a new badge to assist Google Play customers uncover VPN apps that take further steps to reveal their sturdy dedication to safety. We enable builders who adhere to Play security and safety tips and have handed a further unbiased Cellular Utility Safety Evaluation (MASA) to show a devoted badge within the Play Retailer to focus on their elevated dedication to security.
Collaborating to advance app safety requirements
Along with our partnerships with governments, builders, and different stakeholders, we additionally labored with our {industry} friends to guard the whole app ecosystem for everybody. The App Protection Alliance, in partnership with fellow steering committee members Microsoft and Meta, not too long ago launched the ADA Utility Safety Evaluation (ASA) v1.0, a brand new normal to assist builders construct safer cell, internet, and cloud purposes. This normal gives clear steering on defending delicate knowledge, defending in opposition to cyberattacks, and finally, strengthening consumer belief. This marks a major step ahead in establishing industry-wide safety finest practices for software improvement.
All builders are inspired to evaluate and adjust to the brand new cell safety normal. You’ll see this normal in motion for all service apps pre-installed on future Pixel cellphone fashions.
Trying forward
This yr, we’ll proceed to guard the Android and Google Play ecosystem, constructing on these instruments and assets in response to consumer and developer suggestions and the altering panorama. As at all times, we’ll preserve empowering builders to construct safer apps extra simply, streamline their coverage expertise, and defend their companies and customers from dangerous actors.
1 Based mostly on Google Play Shield 2024 inner knowledge.
