Google is clearly on a mission to make Android ever more like iPhone. We have seen multiple iPhone-like feature announcements in recent months, and Android 15 promises the most complete set of privacy and security updates in a single release.
But one battlefield where Android continues to trail iPhone by some considerable distance is app safety and security. Despite its efforts, Google can’t seem to keep dangerous Play Store apps out of the headlines. And while its excellent Google Play Protect does a great job keeping many users safe, the threat is getting worse. But now Google seems to be more serious about purging the problem once and for all.
Yes, Android 15 will bring “live threat detection” to use on-device AI to “analyze behavioral signals related to the use of sensitive permissions and interactions with other apps and services,” and quickly flag abusers. But while that will cut the time between an app misbehaving and it being flagged and removed, that doesn’t address the issue that it got onto Play Store in the first place.
Cue the imminent Play Store mass app deletion which Google has just previewed and confirmed is now just six weeks away: “We’re updating the Spam and Minimum Functionality policy to ensure apps meet uplifted standards for the Play catalog and engage users through quality functionality and content user experiences.”
From August 31, the type of apps in Google’s crosshairs will include those “that are static without app-specific functionalities, for example, text only or PDF file apps, apps with very little content and that do not provide an engaging user experience, for example, single wallpaper apps, and apps that are designed to do nothing or have no function.” Of which there are literally millions—some no doubt on your own phone.
Google is being clever here, ramping up its quality threshold. We have seen multiple recent examples of vacuous but seemingly harmless apps getting onto Play Store and then either being used as a conduit to other malware-laced apps, or more recently used as evil-twin decoys for those alternatives.
If one assumes that most dangerous apps on Play Store serve little legitimate purpose, than this is an excellent approach to tightening the net. As such, while purging apps is not new for Google, this time it feels different. There is a building expectation that this will even hit some popular apps with millions of installs, and some legitimate apps which are low on the quality mark will also fail to make the cut.
For developers, Google warns apps must “provide a stable, responsive, and engaging user experience… Apps that crash, do not have the basic degree of adequate utility as mobile apps, lack engaging content, or exhibit other behavior that is not consistent with a functional and engaging user experience are not allowed on Google Play.”
These are not the only changes coming into force on Play Store with enhanced security in mind. Google’s July 17 policy changes include enhanced malware prevention—including a mandate that developers must remove third-party code from providers known to peddle malware, regardless of the code itself, as well as new rules on spyware prevention and tighter enforcement across the board.
None of this should come as a surprise to developers, and they have six weeks to assess whether or not they comply. The days of Google encouraging third-party stores and users to sideload apps regardless of origin are long gone. We are fast approaching Play becoming as near a simile to Apple’s App Store as we could ever see.
Meanwhile, if you can’t get enough of those low-quality torches, horoscopes, PDF and QR-code readers and quizzes, then now might be the time to stock up.
