Google Play Store

[Paddi01]

How likely is it to get infected by malware from Google Play Store in general?

[Guest The Viking]

Good question, actually.

 

I'll say that it depends on what you download? If you're like me and only download apps from well-known developers (just the usual, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Steam, Outlook, maybe some shopping apps such as Amazon or Aliexpress, your banking apps such as ING or BBVA, PayPal, maybe Discord, etc) and devs you know more or less or apps from websites you use (don't know, I have a few such as "Manga Sanctuary" from a french website with the same name, or Maxthon Cloud Browser, which I know is safe), then I guess no real risk?

 

Then again, the average user or kids just download anything. I constantly see sound boards recommended on google play, as well as rip-offs of random games, so wouldn't surprise if some of those had some kind of malware. 

 

You could ask the same question about how likely it is to get a virus from visiting websites, if you go on a weird website with the 50000 pop-ups and are stupid enough to click on them, then there you go, infected. Or install an antivirus on the phone, such as avast? not sure it's useful though.

 

edit: can you still get malware though? didn't google put something new? "play protect"?

[Paddi01]

31 minutes ago, The Viking said:

Good question, actually.

 

I'll say that it depends on what you download? If you're like me and only download apps from well-known developers (just the usual, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Steam, Outlook, maybe some shopping apps such as Amazon or Aliexpress, your banking apps such as ING or BBVA, PayPal, maybe Discord, etc) and devs you know more or less or apps from websites you use (don't know, I have a few such as "Manga Sanctuary" from a french website with the same name, or Maxthon Cloud Browser, which I know is safe), then I guess no real risk?

 

Then again, the average user or kids just download anything. I constantly see sound boards recommended on google play, as well as rip-offs of random games, so wouldn't surprise if some of those had some kind of malware. 

 

You could ask the same question about how likely it is to get a virus from visiting websites, if you go on a weird website with the 50000 pop-ups and are stupid enough to click on them, then there you go, infected. Or install an antivirus on the phone, such as avast? not sure it's useful though.

 

edit: can you still get malware though? didn't google put something new? "play protect"?

On PC it´s something different but your answer has some fairly good points. Actually some common sense should be enough in order to be protected i guess.

Most people say that antivirus on phones are not necessary though. Haven´t made any experience with play protect but it does not seem too reliable.

[Guest The Viking]

I have Avast installed on my phone, it's rather useless. Huawei uses a skin called EMUI, which is very good at preserving battery and ram space. How? By killing most apps after you exit them or turn the screen off. So... avast never runs, unless you put an exception, like for Whatsapp. But even then, I feel it's useless. 

 

Play Protect, don't know, it's probably google's attempt at fixing the issue, but doesn't seem too effective. Besides, I feel most malware of phones are just malicious apps that display ads on your phone. We'll notice it, obviously, but the average user who has no tech knowledge just doesn't know it's not supposed to be there, so doesn't do anything about it. 

 

The worst part of android is all the stupid permissions you have to give for some apps (*cough cough* looking at you google *cough cough*), which are probably the real threat. A random app you know nothing of can easily demand access to pretty much everything (contacts list, phone calls, messages, gallery, gps, camera, etc etc), you'll accept it anyway, and there, the "hacker" will get all your info/data.