Join Google and Remove Cheetah Mobile Spam Apps From Your Android Device
Google recently announced that it has banned over 600 apps from the Play Store for using aggressive ads. Buzzfeed reports that many of them were published by relatively popular developers like Cheetah Mobile, which had 45 apps available in the Play Store, some with billions of downloads before they were blocked.
While Google hasn’t published a list of malicious apps, you can at least start by removing something from Cheetah Mobile from your device. And if there are a few apps you visit that are a little annoying because of their ads, check to see if they still exist on the Google Play store. If not, it’s time to remove them from your device and find an alternative. (If you rule it out, try an app like AdGuard .)
The more open nature of Android and Google Play Store apps compared to Apple’s platform gives developers more flexibility in functionality than iOS apps. However, weaker Google restrictions also make it easier for attackers to infiltrate malware-laden apps or the Play Store.
Google has been better positioned in recent years to quickly ban dangerous and exploitative apps, but as long as the Android platform and the Play Store remain more open, Android users need to be extra careful about what they download (although, in all fairness, Apple users aren’t out of touch either.) hook ).
In any case, if an app runs full screen ads even when you’re not using it, or runs so many that your phone becomes unusable, immediately report it to Google and provide feedback warning other users of the issue.