Google Online Security Blog: How we fought bad apps and malicious developers in 2019

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The latest news and insights from Google on security and safety on the Internet

How we fought bad apps and malicious developers in 2019

11 de febrero de 2020

Posted by Andrew Ahn, Product Manager, Google Play + Android App Safety [Cross-posted from the Android Developers Blog]

better protect kids and familiesour developer approval processApp Defense Alliance

Google Play released a new policy in 2018 to stop apps from unnecessarily accessing privacy-sensitive SMS and Call Log data. We saw a significant, 98% decrease in apps accessing SMS and Call Log data as developers partnered with us to update their apps and protect users. The remaining 2% are comprised of apps that require SMS and Call Log data to perform their core function.

One of the best ways to protect users from bad apps is to keep those apps out of the Play Store in the first place. Our improved vetting mechanisms stopped over 790,000 policy-violating app submissions before they were ever published to the Play Store.

Similarly to our SMS and Call Log policy, we also enacted a policy to better protect families in May 2019. After putting this in place, we worked with developers to update or remove tens of thousands of apps, making the Play Store a safer place for everyone.