Google Play Store will soon warn about dead Android apps on phone

The update could help flag cyber risks, free storage space and reduce unsafe downloads from unknown publishers.

Google, over the last several years, has improved the screening process to block malicious apps from entering the Play Store.

Despite that, some go through devious means to hoodwink users into sideloading fraudulent apps from third-party digital marketplaces. To counter that, Google Play Security actively check for suspicious behaviour and notifies the user that a particular app carries cyber threat risks and the user should uninstall it.

However, when Google routinely removes apps from the Play Store, it doesn't automatically result in uninstallation on phones that have downloaded them. Or, it doesn't notify the users to remove the dead app.

Now, the search engine giant is finally making changes to the warning system, reported Android Authority, citing the prerelease code of the Google Play Store.

This is a great initiative by Google, as users will get information on such fraudulent apps, learn from such mistakes, and be wary of downloading fishy apps from unknown publishers.

And, most importantly, users will clear up the storage space and be able to install new apps from genuine developers.

There is no official word on when the Google Play Store will get the dead app notification feature just yet.

In a related development, Google has confirmed to bring AI scam detection, new potent anti-theft tools and more with the soon-to-be-released Android 17 update.

Android 17 will come with an advanced anti-spoofing mechanism to prevent threat actors from scamming potential victims.

Once upgraded to Android 17, phones will automatically end calls from spoofed numbers impersonating participating financial apps.

Another big security improvement coming with Android 17 is that the phone will prevent all third-party apps from accessing One-Time-Password (OTP) for three hours.

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