This is more of a reactive step, instead of a system that can detect malicious apps in a proactive manner. In July 2022, around 50 apps were removed from Google Play.

Every year, there are several apps that are removed from Google Play. However, it has often been seen that Google Play Protect has failed to identify malicious apps in a proactive manner. Overall, Google Play Protect is presented as the ultimate software to protect your private data. On some Android versions, Google Play Protect may reset app permissions to secure your private data. Based on the nature of harmful behavior detected, Google Play Protect may warn you about a potential breach or deactivate or remove the dangerous app.

The user can then make an informed decision to proceed with the installation or stop the app from being installed so they can look for an alternative that target the most current version of Android.Going by official description, Google Play Protect scans your apps and devices in real time to detect and prevent harmful behavior. Play Protect now notifies users when they install an app that is designed for outdated versions. In 2019, we improved on this strategy with warnings to the user. This strategy ensures that users downloading apps from Google Play recieve apps that take advantage of the latest privacy and security improvements in the OS. In 2018, Google Play started requiring new apps and app updates be built for new versions of the Android OS. Malware developers intentionally target devices running long outdated versions of Android to abuse exploits that have recently been patched. Warnings for apps targeting lower Android versions Since October 2019, Play Protect issued 380,000 warnings for install attempts using this system. On-device protections warn users about Potentially Harmful Apps (PHAs) at install time for a faster response.

Play Protect now warns you about variations of known malware right on the device. Some of the new features launched in 2019 include: Throughout 2019 there were many improvements made to Play Protect to bring the best of Google to Android devices to keep users safe.

This past year, Play Protect prevented over 1.9 billion malware installs from unknown sources. Built into Android, Play Protect scans over 100 billion apps every day for malware and other harmful apps. Through 2019, Google Play Protect continued to improve the security for 2.5 billion Android devices.

Play protect app