Google continually deletes apps from Play Store. It has an ongoing program to purge the Android marketplace of high-risk and low quality downloads. Android users are warned when a dangerous app is on their phones, but not when an app is removed. Now for the first time, Google will confirm when a Play Store app is deleted.
This change is a major security boost for Android. When an app is deleted from Play Store, while it doesn’t automatically uninstall on your phone, it does stop receiving updates. That means no more features, but it also means no more security fixes. If there’s a risk while the app is still on your phone, you are exposed.
“Play Store currently only alerts users via Play Protect for serious security threats, Android Authority, reports. But an update has been found in pre-release code, “informing users that there will be no future updates for the app on the Play Store.”
The actual warning is likely to list each deleted app, telling users “it was removed from Google Play and will no longer receive updates.” We don’t know if there will be an easy deletion option included, but let’s hope and assume so. Given the threat from apps that no receive fixes, it’s important to remove these from your phone.
In its latest Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), Verizon says that “for the first time in 19 years,” stolen credentials have been surpassed as the most dangerous point of entry into a device. The biggest threat now is vulnerability exploitation, exacerbated with AI. An unpatched app is very exploitable.
“Google Play Store could soon warn you about dead Android apps on your phone,” Android Authority says, which is long overdue. Last week, Human Security warned of a new ad fraud campaign comprising 453 apps installed “24 million times.” These apps have been deleted by Google from its store, but are a good illustration of why users need to be warned, to ensure all Play Store app deletions are mirrored.
Until now, “there’s no warning or notification of any sort, and you wouldn’t even notice the removal unless you spotted it in the news or you tried to install the app on a new device.” Now Google will confirm when an app is deleted on Play Store, prompting users to act. This new update can’t go live soon enough.