Google confirms new Play Store update – app removal in just 5 weeks

Google’s mission to make Android more like the iPhone in terms of security and privacy continues. Android 15 promises to use on-device AI to warn users about malicious app activity in real time. And while the days of sideloading aren’t over yet, Google’s Play Store defenses have been expanded to protect even this Wild West as best they can. And all of this is just a precursor to the biggest change of all: Google’s eye-catching mass removal of low-quality apps from the Play Store, which will begin on August 31st, five weeks from now.

The latest Play Store update is a welcome acknowledgement of these security improvements, and Google has confirmed through its Chrome team that users with Play Protect enabled in the Play Store will no longer see “file may be harmful” warnings when downloading APKs from third-party stores using Chrome. If Play Protect is NO enabled, users will still see warnings in Chrome and a warning to enable Play Protect.

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How Android Power reports, “(Chrome) will soon leverage the presence of Google Play Protect to decide whether to display an alert… While Play Protect initially scanned only new apps that were uploaded to Google Play by developers themselves or by users when they first downloaded them, it was recently updated to perform some real-time scans of apps on the device and will soon perform even deeper AI scans on the device. Given these improvements to Play Protect, it’s no surprise that the Chrome team now considers the “may be harmful” warning unnecessary.”

Google Play Protect isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, which is why so many malicious apps still make it to the store. But once malware is identified, it can look for the same thing again—and again, and again. That should tip the scales in Google’s favor, though it’s proving more difficult than expected. But live monitoring of suspicious app behavior, including permissions, will be a big step forward.

The real goal, though, is to get users to treat the Play Store as the only place they’ll find apps — and more, according to recent updates. Samsung just lifted its own default device restrictions to steer users away from third-party stores or direct downloads, and Google is clearly looking to build a better wall around the Play Store this year.

According to Android Power“The first part of this change to go live will be a warning to enable Play Protect if it’s disabled; Google says the malicious file warning will be removed later, but that it’s “still likely to roll out in the near future.”

The massive decision to remove thousands of apps deemed low quality is more about security and privacy than anything else. This is the type of empty, pointless app that either hides malware or is part of an attack chain that primes the device for malware from another source, thereby bypassing some of those protections.

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Google says the apps that will be flagged for removal include “static ones with no app-specific functionality, such as text or PDF apps, apps with very little content that don’t provide an engaging user experience, such as apps with a single wallpaper, and apps that are designed to do nothing or have no functionality at all. This will have a huge impact on the Play Store, and users should be prepared.”

And while many longtime Android users don’t like the suggestion that Google is moving its operating system in Apple’s direction, the reality is that Apple users are much better protected against malware than Android users. Google is trying to catch up.

The days of Android’s Wild West truly seem to be long behind us.