Google Now Monitoring All Apps in an Android Device

By Kevin Parrish
published

Google's Verify Apps feature now keeps a watchful eye on all installed apps.

Rich Cannings, Android Security Engineer at Google, updated the Official Android blog with news that the company is enhancing a service on Android to better protect customers from malware-laced apps. This service builds upon Google's Verify Apps feature, which already protects people when they're installing apps outside of Google Play at the time of installation.

According to Google, the company is now continually checking devices to make sure that all apps are getting along and behaving like legitimate apps should. Does this sound like Google is snooping around on your Android device? Yes it does, but the company points out that Verify Apps alone has been used more than 4 billion times to check apps at the time of install.

"Because potentially harmful applications are very rare, most people will never see a warning or any other indication that they have this additional layer of protection," Cannings writes. "But we do expect a small number of people to see warnings (which look similar to the existing Verify apps warnings) as a result of this new capability."

Cannings adds that less than 0.18 percent of installs in the last year occurred after someone received a warning that the app was potentially harmful. Apparently, the Verify Apps warning is working beautifully.

"Even though the risk is miniscule, we're committed to making sure that the best available security protections are available to all Android users," he concludes. "This includes service-based protections such as Verify Apps, as well as security features within the platform itself."

The new service is available on Android 2.3 and later. Most device owners can find the service listed under Settings/Security in Android 4.2 and later. For those with Android 4.1.2 and older, Verify apps can be found under Google Settings/Verify apps.

Google seemingly has your back if you own an Android device. But this constant scanning… is it overkill given that the company scans all apps loaded up on Google Play? The real danger, it seems, is when customers install apps left and right that are not from Google Play. Malware infections can be bad news for those who like swapping apps on third-party social tools.

Infected apps on Google Play are extremely rare, as Cannings pointed out.

Kevin Parrish
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Beezy
    hopefully its a good thing im running CyanogenMod11
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    According to Google, the company is now continually checking devices to make sure that all apps are getting along and behaving like legitimate apps should. Does this sound like Google is snooping around on your Android device? Yes it does, but the company points out that Verify Apps alone has been used more than 4 billion times to check apps at the time of install.
    certainly snooping. scare the users a bit, and they'll gladly give up a bit more of their privacy for superficial security. how about making android more secure instead of snooping on users?
    Reply
  • daekar
    Totally unnecessary move. I install apps from wherever I please, and a warning at installation is all that is necessary. This is snooping, plain and simple.
    Reply
  • BranFlake5
    Frankly, if this is snooping, hopefully Google might notice some bugs and fix them anyway.
    Reply
  • Clandestine Moniker
    This is just a straw man argument: when asked about potential snooping, the response is that the app monitoring system is working beautifully~

    This scanning has no added benefit for typical users, who need to give up more of their privacy in order to supposedly protect the small subset of Android users who know how to get apps from alternative app stores. Google Play already verifies submitted apps so the only reason they want to bring constant monitoring to the user-level is to check on other installed apps from third-party app stores.

    There are mobile anti-virus suites available such as Avast...and I suspect they do a better job that Google's App Verify function. This really seems like a case of users giving up more of their privacy to the whims of Google.
    Reply
  • Clandestine Moniker
    This is just a straw man argument: when asked about potential snooping, the response is that the app monitoring system is working beautifully~

    This scanning has no added benefit for typical users, who need to give up more of their privacy in order to supposedly protect the small subset of Android users who know how to get apps from alternative app stores. Google Play already verifies submitted apps so the only reason they want to bring constant monitoring to the user-level is to check on other installed apps from third-party app stores.

    There are mobile anti-virus suites available such as Avast...and I suspect they do a better job that Google's App Verify function. This really seems like a case of users giving up more of their privacy to the whims of Google.
    Reply
  • tntom
    You can disable it in settings if you are worried about snooping.
    Reply