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Aamir Siddiqui \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n
An elderly relative, a gullible friend, or someone who just isn\u2019t all that tech-savvy: we all have those people who make us wish that there were reverse parental controls<\/a> on Android. The reality is that complicated UIs combined with malicious actors are making it easier than ever for scams and dodgy apps to target people who don\u2019t always have their guard up.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s Play Protect service is meant to defend users of the Play Store from malicious applications. But when my boyfriend\u2019s grandmother asked me to help her with her Android phone<\/a>, I realized that the service is failing to identify these apps.<\/p>\n Do you think Play Protect does enough to identify malicious apps?<\/p>\n 35 votes<\/p>\n Yes.<\/p>\n 11%<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n 60%<\/p>\n It depends on the type of app.<\/p>\n 29%<\/p>\n Apps requesting excessive permissions target unwitting users<\/p>\n Andy Walker \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n While Google is introducing a new sideloading process<\/a>, I think that if the company is serious about reducing scams on Android, it needs to look at the Play Store<\/a>.\u00a0I\u2019ve heard multiple instances of people being tricked into installing dodgy apps through ads. These ads pose as system notifications and lead the user to a Play Store listing to download the app under the guise that it\u2019s providing an essential feature or update. In reality, it\u2019s just a vector to deliver more ads to generate revenue for the developers.<\/p>\n For example, my colleague Andy mentioned that his father tapped on an ad for a so-called critical update and ended up installing different PDF apps, which delivered more ads for more downloads.<\/p>\n When I was visiting my boyfriend\u2019s grandmother, she complained of the incessant ads she was receiving on her phone. She kept receiving messages that she needed a new PDF reader or that her phone didn\u2019t have enough space. She wasn\u2019t sure what had caused the change; she just noticed one day that her UI had completely changed.<\/p>\n I told my boyfriend to help her run a malware scan on her phone. He had tried to help her before but wasn\u2019t sure how to identify the app that was causing issues. He used Samsung\u2019s Device Care app to scan the phone, and it identified one app with excessive ads. However, even after uninstalling it and receiving a clean scan, her UI had still not reverted to the original.<\/p>\n They handed me her phone to see if I could find the issue, which is when I realized that this wasn\u2019t a simple case of an app delivering pop-ups. Rather, she had an entirely different launcher on her phone that replaced her app drawer, widgets, and Google Discover feed. Even searching for apps in her app drawer brought up additional ads. Meanwhile, the widget posing as Google Search displayed even more ads.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also likely that this app was using her search data for more targeted ads. Although she wasn\u2019t sure what she had done to cause the issues on her phone, the app had managed to get her to grant a significant number of permissions that compromised her data and her experience.<\/p>\n Despite this, Google Play Protect didn\u2019t identify the culprit<\/p>\n Megan Ellis \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n I decided to use Google Play Protect to scan for the culprit, thinking it would be the best choice to identify problematic apps. But the service didn\u2019t find any issues with the device. While Play Protect scans for malware, it\u2019s also supposed to identify adware. The warning that\u2019s typically displayed is, \u201cThis app may display ads with unexpected behaviors (for example, outside the app environment, cannot be easily dismissed, or interfering with device functionality).\u201d However, the app continued undetected.<\/p>\n Eventually, I could get an idea of which app was causing the issue since I kept seeing a prompt to change the default messaging app when swiping to the left-most screen. Notably, trying to search for the app didn\u2019t bring it up in the app drawer. When I long-pressed the app icon on the home screen, the pop-up to uninstall it didn\u2019t appear.<\/p>\n Play Protect failed on two fronts: it didn’t identify the app as adware before it appeared on the Play Store, and its scan didn’t identify the app as problematic after install.<\/p>\n In my opinion, Google\u2019s Play Protect service had failed on two fronts. It failed to identify the app as Mobile Unwanted Software<\/a> when it was approved on the Play Store. While its app name was simply \u201cMessages,\u201d its main purpose was to replace the phone\u2019s launcher and display ads. Its permissions give this away as it differs from other messaging apps due to its permission for widgets.<\/p>\n Play Protect then failed a second time to identify the app as adware when it was on my boyfriend\u2019s grandmother\u2019s device. While free launchers often display ads, there were more ads than I\u2019ve ever seen in any launcher. Often these ads are limited to the launcher settings. But with this app, they were part of most menus on the device.<\/p>\n How I managed to fix the phone\n<\/p>\n When I kept receiving the prompt to change the default messaging app, I realized that the guilty software was posing as a texting app. Trying to uninstall it from the home screen or app drawer didn\u2019t work, so I decided to head to the Google Play Store.<\/p>\n There is a way to check what app is acting as your phone\u2019s launcher, but this setting is somewhat buried. Searching for \u201chome\u201d or \u201clauncher\u201d won\u2019t bring it up. Rather, you have to go to Settings > Apps > Default apps > Home app (the exact steps will depend on your Android skin).<\/p>\n Since I hadn\u2019t changed a launcher in around a year, I completely forgot about these steps. So instead, I used the Google Play Store\u2019s account menu to manage the installed apps on the device. To do this, I went to the Google Play Store, selected the account icon at the top right of the app, then selected Manage apps and device > Manage. I made sure the filter was set to\u00a0This device so that I could see all the apps installed on the phone.<\/p>\n I then scrolled through all the installed apps. This would\u2019ve been a more difficult task on a device with more apps, but luckily my boyfriend\u2019s grandmother didn\u2019t have that many installed. I actually nearly missed the app, since it had a generic \u201cMessages\u201d title and a chat blurb icon that looks similar to the discontinued Samsung Messages app<\/a>. Luckily, my boyfriend pointed out that this wasn\u2019t Samsung Messages, and I clicked on the app to see that it was, in fact, developed by another company.<\/p>\n I used the manage apps menu in the Google Play Store to remove the offending app, which posed as a simple messaging utility.<\/p>\n After uninstalling the app, the UI reset back to Samsung\u2019s default One UI<\/a>, and my boyfriend\u2019s grandmother had control over her device once again.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll never know what ad convinced her to download the app in the first place. But when I did a quick search of the Google Play Store, I saw that it\u2019s filled with messaging apps that promise dubious functionality. Some claim to save battery power, and I even spotted one that promised to allow you to receive SMSes without internet \u2014 even though you don\u2019t need an internet connection for SMSes.<\/p>\n Megan Ellis \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n I eventually tracked down the same app that she had installed on her phone \u2014 an app with no reviews and around 10k downloads. It has since updated its app title to include the fact that it\u2019s also a launcher, but it keeps its description vague enough that non-tech-savvy users will\u00a0 think that they\u2019re installing a messaging app. I temporarily installed the app and can see how my boyfriend\u2019s grandmother likely granted the extra permissions, as the app spams you with prompts to enable certain features. It makes it extremely easy for someone who doesn\u2019t know what a launcher even is to install one and activate it.<\/p>\n The same company also makes a QR code scanner that is also a launcher, confirming my belief that the launcher functionality is just a vector to deliver more ads. Neither messaging apps nor QR code scanners require launcher functionality to work, create shortcuts, or enable widgets. In addition, these utilities already exist in Android. But it\u2019s common for adware to pose as utility apps, even if they\u2019re not actually necessary on modern Android devices.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n![\"google](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google-play-store-changelog-1.jpg\"\/ "\\"google")
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