Is apps downloaded from google play safe

This can be a good developer or a bad developer, a good app or a bad app. Also beware of apps that serve advertisements. When an app show you advertisements they collect your preferences and upload to the Ad network. If you purchase any apps on Google Play, when Google suddenly pulls the app off the shelves which, they do you will not be able to re-install the app.

You will lose all your investments. In fact many people have suffered from that already. Some ways that malicious apps will try to cause you harm, that you should be aware of, are:. In other words, you will find apps that can spy on you, perform ransomware attacks , promote phishing campaigns, and involves diverse types of malware.

Collectively, they can do a great deal of things when your device gets infected. These can include:. While it is tough to know if the app you installed has infected your device, you can use a few pointers to determine whether or not this is the case.

If you notice some of these happening on your phone, you may want to analyze your device for the apps you installed. Most importantly, you need to look for applications you never installed yourself. Some popular apps may come pre-installed, but to be sure, you need to uninstall any application that you do not need.

You might also want to go through the Android app permissions granted for existing applications. To ensure that you download only safe applications on the play store, you can follow a few tips.

The best of these are below. If your Android device is more than two or three years old, and you do not receive any updates anymore, you might want to get a new smartphone that provides security updates for longer. Samsung can be a desirable choice, since its phones offer four years of security updates. Usually, we tend to install applications in a haste by skimming through the descriptions.

For super-popular apps, you probably don't need to do a lot of research. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. By Tim Fisher. Tim Fisher. Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience.

He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the VP and General Manager of Lifewire. Tweet Share Email. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up.

There was an error. Tell us why! More from Lifewire. Your Privacy Rights. If enabled, it can do this automatically as well. Overall, Google Play Protect is a nice tool for users to help identify and shield themselves from malicious apps that may be carrying some form of malware. For starters, you should only be downloading apps from credible sources and avoid shopping apps on third-party market places.

While those credible sources may seem like a virtual minefield, they are much safer than any unofficial platforms could ever be. You should also pay close attention to the names that may look similar, but not quite the same as original apps.

Another red flag that an app may be unsafe is if it requires an excessive amount of permissions and info. If a simple flashlight app asks to know your location or for access to your photos and contacts , it probably has a more harmful agenda in mind. Also, a ridiculous amount of pop-up ads and random icons are signs that you have been infected with malware.