Tap «OK» to let Google help protect
you from harmful apps.
Google announced Play Protect back at Google I / O as a revamped and more consumer - friendly version of the old «verify apps» system, but with an identical goal: to protect
you from harmful apps installed on your phone.
For this, the user needs to install an antivirus application that can protect your android tablet or phone
from harmful apps and games.
Not exact matches
At the very least, such an
app could be a less
harmful substitute for individuals who have compulsions that are bad for their health, he says: «For instance, we might be able to give people who pull their hair out obsessively relief
from their urge by watching a video of themselves doing it instead.
While LeapFrog promises that the
apps it sells will not expose kids to any in -
app - purchases or
harmful ads, those assurances do not apply to
apps downloaded
from the Amazon store.
This handy
app will help you make sure that those leftovers
from supper won't be
harmful to your pet, or even make sure those flowers you're buying for your neighbour are pet friendly in case they get ahold of them!
Overall, the company notes that potential
harmful apps coming
from the Google Play store were installed on fewer than 0.15 % of devices.
Play Protect's core objective is to shield users
from Potentially
Harmful Apps, or PHAs.
A background process turned on by default, the security suite automatically runs a safety check on
apps before they are downloaded
from the Play Store and warns users about any potentially
harmful ones that could out your phone at risk.
It also warns you before trying to install any unrecognized
apps downloaded
from the Internet that could potentially be
harmful.
If you have Google Play installed, you're automatically protected
from potentially
harmful apps with the Verify Apps feat
apps with the Verify
Apps feat
Apps feature.
To help combat malicious
apps that users either knowingly or unknowingly install on their devices
from outside the Google Play Store, Play Protect scans through every Android device (running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or above) looking for these potentially
harmful apps (PHAs) and removes them.
Google has made a lot of headway toward preventing
harmful apps from cropping up there, but there really is no such thing as perfect security.
This option will not only prevent anyone
from getting
apps from untrusted sources, but it'll also block potentially
harmful programs that try to install automatically without your consent.
Obviously the idea is to help prevent users
from coming into contact with
apps that are deemed
harmful, and machine learning has a lot to do with how well Google Play Protect has worked up to this point.
Google noted today in its announcement that its new approach to security on Android, including application sandboxing and the newly launched Android Security Rewards Program, has allowed it to achieve «fewer than 0.15 % of devices with any kind of potentially
harmful app installed, as long as
apps were installed
from Google Play.»
In addition, Google suspended their developers» accounts
from the platform, while the Google Play Protect team used information and signals
from the identified
apps to update its own on - device security services designed to search for potentially
harmful applications.
From smartphone
apps to smart wearables, there are a variety of high - tech ways we can make sure we're not being exposed to too many
harmful ultraviolet wavelengths by being out in the sun.
Google will continue to use machine learning to scan all installed
apps connected to your Google account, searching for
harmful apps and remove them
from your device if detected.
The first time you start to install an
app from an unknown source, a message will pop up asking if you'd like Google to scan the file to make sure it's not
harmful.
Users are told to opt into Google Play Protect and to download
apps exclusively
from the Google Play Store because «the chance you will install a PHA [potentially
harmful app] is much lower on Google Play than using other install mechanisms».