Access is automatically revoked

Play Protect gets new security feature

Apps have permissions revoked if they are classified as harmful.

Ove Kaufeldt

Published 31 January 2025 - 13:57

Google has started rolling out a new security feature in its security tool Play Protect. If the security tool detects that an app on the mobile is classified as potentially harmful, it will automatically withdraw all permissions that the app has received to isolate it from the rest of the system, plus the user will receive a message urging them to uninstall the app.

Google has also released a report on its security work, where it reports, among other things, that in 2024 it prevented the publication of 2.36 million apps that violated the publishing terms, 158,000 developer accounts were expelled, and 1.3 million apps were prevented from gaining unnecessary access to potentially sensitive information on users' devices.

Play Protect not only protects through Google's app store but also examines apps installed from other app stores and those installed locally by users. There, 13 million malicious apps were identified in 2024.