Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is sharing some of its latest improvements and next steps for keeping Android apps safe and secure.
- The Play Store is working on new badges like its one for VPN apps to highlight vetted software.
- Protection against malicious sideloaded financial apps will expand to new markets.
For well over a decade now, Google’s been doing the hard work of stewardship over Android apps: running the Play Store, setting policies, and making sure that Android users everywhere have access to safe, useful mobile software they can rely upon. To say that’s tricky would be an understatement, with Google constantly juggling the priorities of developers, carriers, hardware manufacturers, and all of us end users. Even though that sometimes results in making changes not everyone loves, the company’s always trying to move the ball in the direction of progress, and today Google shares some of its upcoming efforts to further improve the state of Android apps.
Have you noticed badges in the Play Store designating things like official government apps, or those offering legitimate VPN services? Badges like these give users confidence that apps have received extra vetting. Going forward, Google wants to expand this program to feature new badges covering additional app categories.
With all the apps we use to transfer and mange our money, financial services are a prime target for hackers. Last year Google started a program in Singapore that attempted to automatically block even sideloaded apps when they had the hallmarks of potentially being intended to commit financial fraud. Now Google shares that it plans to expand this effort, though it hasn’t yet disclosed what nations will be involved next.
The majority of the Play news Google is announcing today is developer-focused, though, and while much of that won’t impact you directly, it’s still good to hear that Google’s trying to make things a little easier for the people behind our favorite software. That includes renewed efforts to educate developers about policy changes so that they’re not scrambling to make last-second corrections to pass Play scrutiny, and adding more pre-review checks to the submission process.
