Google May Add Play Store Alerts For Removed Android Apps

Google’s new Play Store warning.

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Google continually deletes apps from Play Store. It has an ongoing program to purge the Android marketplace of high-risk and low quality downloads. Android users are warned when a dangerous app is on their phones, but not when an app is removed. Now for the first time, code found in a pre-release Play Store update suggests Google may now confirm when a Play Store app is deleted.

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“Play Store currently only alerts users via Play Protect for serious security threats, Android Authority, reports. But an update has been found in pre-release code, “informing users that there will be no future updates for the app on the Play Store.”

The pre-release code shows a warning listing each deleted app, telling users “it was removed from Google Play and will no longer receive updates.” It’s not yet clear if there will be an easy deletion option included. But given the risk from apps that no longer receive fixes, it’s important to remove these from your phone.

“Play Store could soon warn you about dead Android apps on your phone,” Android Authority says, which is overdue. Last week, Human Security flagged a new ad fraud campaign comprising 453 apps installed 24 million times. These apps have been deleted by Google from its store, and should be removed from phones as well.

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Until now, Android Authority says, “there’s no warning or notification of any sort, and you wouldn’t even notice the removal unless you spotted it in the news or you tried to install the app on a new device.” Now Google will confirm when an app is deleted on Play Store, giving users the opportunity to act.

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