Google removes 43 malicious apps from Play Store, users advised to delete them now

The Google Play Store is one of the largest app distribution platforms in the world. It has nearly 3 million apps and games. However, with popularity comes its own challenges and that is the case here. Google Play Store has faced an ongoing battle against the infiltration of malicious apps or apps that violate its policies. The open nature and large volume of submissions to the platform often lead to malicious sneaking in the Play Store and harming Android phones. In a recent incident, Google has taken down 43 bad apps that were secretly feeding on phone’s battery.

The search engine giant has removed 43 malicious apps from its Play Store after they were found to be loading ads even when the user’s device was turned off. The apps, which have been downloaded a total of 2.5 million times, also ate up the mobile data when the user’s phone was off.

These apps were first identified by the Mobile Research Team at McAfee, who reported them to Google for violating the Play Store’s policies. Most of the apps have since been removed from the Play Store while some have been updated by the developers. McAfee urges to users who have installed these apps to delete them immediately.

“Recently, McAfee’s Mobile Research Team discovered a concerning practice among some apps distributed through Google Play. These apps load ads while the device’s screen is off, which might initially seem convenient for users. However, it’s a clear violation of Google Play Developer policy on how ads should be displayed. This affects not only the advertisers who pay for invisible Ads, but also the users as it drains battery, consumes data and poses potential risks such as information leaks and disruption of user profiling caused by Clicker behaviour,” McAfee informed via its bog post.

The list of removed apps includes a variety of different types, including TV/DMB players, music downloaders, and news and calendar apps. If you have any of the 43 apps installed on your Android device, you should delete them immediately. It is important to be careful about what apps you download from the Play Store. Download apps only from trusted developers and go through the permissions carefully before installing. Always keeps your keep your Android device up to date with the latest security patches and use a security app to scan your device for malware.