Google Play Store Will Soon Warn You Before Downloading a Bad App
Not all apps are the same. For every incredible, must-have app on the Play Store, there are dozens of bland, ad-laden, gimmicky options.
There’s a lot you can do yourself to avoid these software apps when browsing the Play Store: pay attention to reviews, scan provided screenshots, read the privacy policy, and soak up the overall “vibe” of the app. However, this is not a foolproof solution. No matter who you are, you end up downloading an app you find interesting, only to open it and find another program that you have to uninstall.
Google may soon warn you about useless apps
In the future, this responsibility may not lie solely with you . Android Authority recently examined version 43.7.19-31 of the Play Store app and found something interesting: Google may soon warn you if it thinks an app is a bad choice. The site found three messages that Google shares with users whenever it finds one of these mediocre apps:
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This app gets deleted frequently compared to similar apps on Google Play.
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Play has limited user data about this app.
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This app has few active users compared to others on Google Play.
As you can see from the posts themselves, Google is working on several pieces of evidence: the company compares the app’s uninstall rate to other apps in that particular category; the amount of user data available to the application (or lack thereof); and how many active users the app has compared to other similar apps.
According to Android Authority, these messages will not appear as warnings when you click on the Play Store page for any bad app. Instead, the message will be displayed along with the rest of the information about that app. So, as you browse the page, you will see a brief description of the app from the developer, its security, ratings and reviews of the app, and a tag that subtly hints that this app is not worth your time. All.
Since these metrics don’t necessarily indicate that an app is garbage, it makes sense that Google wouldn’t send these alerts whenever people visit an app’s page. Instead, it’s a helpful warning to potential users that they should be wary before using the app. This is useful to avoid wasting time, but it is also important to avoid wasting money if the application charges a fee.
This won’t be Google’s first app discovery feature.
None of this is currently relevant—Android Authority found these messages in the code for this version of the Play Store, not on the Play Store pages themselves. It’s entirely possible that Google will never launch this feature, although there is precedent to suggest it might: the company recently rolled out real-time threat detection for Google Play Protect , a feature that looks for potentially malicious apps on your phone. If detected, the system sends you a notification about the suspicious application so you can evaluate whether it really poses a threat.
Whether it’s to identify malware or simply to rid you of a useless app, I’m all for Google investing resources in warnings like these for users. Let’s hope other tech players follow suit.