Google Play Store

It's probably nothing new by now whenever news about this or that malware getting into Google Play Store's automated "bouncer" but few have probably achieved the same mass reach as this one. Called BeiTaAd or BeitaPlugin, the particular strain of adware will perhaps go down in history for having taking great pains to hide its nature from security measures and being found in 238 unique apps. It is, perhaps, no coincidence that those apps were all made by the same Chinese company as well.

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As part of a number of changes to its Play Store policies, Google now requires developers to disclose the odds of getting loot box items before players purchase the boxes. The move follows growing backlash from consumers and public health officials who compare loot boxes to gambling, expressing concerns that some kids and vulnerable adults are engaging in unhealthy spending patterns related to these offerings.

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Mobile spending, as multiple headlines have told us throughout the years, is something that can quickly get out of hand. Google today is looking to do something about that by rolling out budgeting for the Google Play Store. With this new feature, you'll be able set a budget for mobile purchases and track how close you are to meeting that limit.

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While some apps on Google Play Store almost seem to stay there forever, there are a few that suddenly disappear without a trace. Some are barely noticeable but when a paid app or game from a major developer suddenly vanishes, users are naturally unhappy. The mysterious disappearance of Baldur's Gate II and Icewind Dale from the Google Play Store may have finally been solved but it actually underlies a silent problem happening behind the scenes of the Google Play Store.

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Google recently implemented stricter rules around reading SMS and call logs to prevent malicious apps from gaining access to those personal data. That policy, however, put apps like Tasker and Titanium Backup in limbo since they needed those permissions for valid but unsupported purposes. Google eventually loosened the restrictions a bit to allow the likes of Tasker to be exempted. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for Titanium Backup but the story might not be so straightforward as it seems.

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Although Apple's iOS App Store is starting to show its holes, no thanks to Facebook and the whole Enterprise Certificate brouhaha, Google's Android counterpart has mostly been perceived has having too many holes for comfort. With a different set of standards and different methodology, Google Play Store, despite the canonical source of Android apps, has had so many lapses that weekly malware reports have become almost a joke. Google now reports how much of its security system has improved in 2018, which, to be fair, might be true. It still, however, might be below acceptable thresholds.

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Google removed more than two dozen camera apps from the Play Store today due to a variety of security issues. Many of these apps involved "beautification," artistic filters for images, and stickers, but all of them had one thing in common: anyone who downloaded them was left vulnerable to malicious ads, hidden icons, and other security problems.

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Epic Games is making rounds in headlines lately and not just because of games it publishes. It ended 2018 with some great news for gamers but bad news for Apple and Google. Actually, it’s bad news just for Google really. While it did not give out specifics, it reiterated what the game developer had already alluded to before. Its Epic Game Store isn’t going to stop at challenging the status quo in the PC gaming market. It’ll be taking its developer-centric cause to mobile but while its intentions are noble, it might do more harm than good in the long run.

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With the end of 2018 quickly approaching, we're bound to see a ton of "Best of" lists over the next few weeks. One of the first is coming from the Google Play Store today, which is promoting what it considers to be the best apps of the year. Aside from the best app of the 2018, categories this year range from "Most Entertaining" to "Hidden Gems," with some fan-voted apps featured as well.

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Another Thanksgiving, another maddening run to get the best Black Friday sales deals. These days, though, you rarely need to literally run and rampage through stores thanks to online shopping. In fact, some of the deals aren’t even physical things you need to race for to grab before anyone else. So while you recover from the weekend’s festivities and frenzy, why not grab an app or game that’s going to last you more than just one season.

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Another day, another Android malware sighted on Google Play Store. Countless pieces and analyses have been written up regarding Google’s mostly hands-off approach to screening apps and it’s a bitter pill to swallow for Android fans and believers. But while there’s no denying that too many such Potentially Harmful Apps or PHAs have slipped through the cracks, there is also one thing that seems to escape notice: the hundreds of thousands of users that should have all been compromised by these malware-laden Android apps.

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Who would have thought making an Android app launcher would be this much trouble. Amir Zaidi probably didn’t think so when he tried to make users’ lives easier and safer by putting the popular Rootless Pixel Launcher up on Google Play Store. But trouble he did encounter and a bit of drama did ensue. The good news: Rootless Pixel Launcher is now back on Google Play Store. The bad news? You will need to do a bit more to make it work perfectly.

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