Posted by Suzanne Frey – VP, Product, Belief & Progress for Android & Play
Realizing that you just’re constructing on a protected, safe ecosystem is important for any app developer. We repeatedly spend money on defending Android and Google Play, so thousands and thousands of customers all over the world can belief the apps they obtain and you may construct thriving companies. And we’re devoted to repeatedly enhancing our developer instruments to make world–class safety even simpler to implement.
Collectively, we’ve made Google Play one of many most secure and most safe platforms for builders and customers. Our partnership over the previous few years consists of serving to you:
At this time, we’re excited to share extra about how we’re making it simpler than ever for builders to construct protected apps, whereas additionally persevering with to strengthen our ecosystem’s safety in 2025 and past.
Making it simpler so that you can construct safer apps from the beginning
Google Play’s insurance policies are a essential element of guaranteeing a protected expertise for our shared customers. Play Console pre-review checks are an effective way to resolve sure coverage and compatibility points earlier than you submit your app for overview. We not too long ago added the power to verify privateness coverage hyperlinks and login credential necessities, and we’re launching even extra pre-review checks this 12 months that will help you keep away from widespread coverage pitfalls.
That will help you keep away from coverage problems earlier than you submit apps for overview, we’ve been notifying you earlier about sure insurance policies related to your apps – beginning proper as you code in Android Studio. We at present notify builders by means of Android Studio about a number of key coverage areas, however this 12 months we’ll increase to a a lot wider vary of insurance policies.
Offering extra coverage assist
Performing in your suggestions, we’ve improved our coverage expertise to offer you clearer updates, extra time for substantial adjustments, extra versatile necessities whereas nonetheless sustaining security requirements, and extra useful data with reside Q&A’s. Quickly, we’ll be making an attempt a brand new means of speaking with you in Play Console so that you get data if you want it most. This 12 months, we’re investing in much more methods to get your suggestions, enable you perceive our insurance policies, navigate our Coverage Heart, and assist to repair points earlier than app submission by means of new options in Console and Android Studio.
We’re additionally increasing our common Google Play Developer Assist Neighborhood, which noticed 2.7 million visits final 12 months from builders seeking to discover solutions to coverage questions, share data, and join with fellow builders. This 12 months, we’re planning to increase the group to incorporate extra languages, resembling Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese.
Defending your online business and customers from scams and assaults
The Play Integrity API is a vital software to assist shield your online business from abuse resembling fraud, bots, dishonest, and knowledge theft. Builders are already utilizing the APIs to make over 500M each day checks for probably fraudulent or dangerous habits. The truth is, apps that use Play Integrity options to detect suspicious exercise are seeing an 80% drop in unauthorized utilization on common in comparison with different apps.
This 12 months, we’ll proceed to improve the Play Integrity API with stronger safety for much more customers. We not too long ago improved the know-how that powers the API on all units operating Android 13 (API degree 33) and above, making it sooner, extra dependable, and extra non-public for customers. We additionally launched enhanced safety alerts that will help you determine how a lot you belief the setting your app is operating in, which we’ll robotically roll out to all builders who use the API in Could. You may decide in now to start out utilizing the improved verdicts in the present day.
We’ll be including new options later this 12 months that will help you take care of rising threats, resembling the power to re-identify abusive and dangerous units in a means that additionally preserves consumer privateness. We’re additionally constructing extra instruments that will help you information customers to repair points, like in the event that they want a safety replace or they’re utilizing a tampered model of your app.
Offering extra validation in your app
For apps in choose classes, we provide badges that present an additional layer of validation and join customers with protected, high-quality, and helpful experiences. Constructing on the work of final 12 months’s “Authorities” badge, which helps customers determine official authorities apps, this 12 months we launched a “Verified” badge to assist customers uncover VPN apps that take further steps to show their dedication to safety. We’ll proceed to increase on this and add badges to extra app classes sooner or later.
Partnering to maintain youngsters protected
Whether or not your app is particularly designed for youths or just attracts their consideration, there may be an added accountability to make sure a protected and trusted expertise. We need to associate with you to maintain youngsters and teenagers protected on-line, and shield their privateness, and empower households. Along with Google Play’s Instructor Accepted program, Households insurance policies, and instruments like Prohibit Declared Minors setting throughout the Google Play Console, we’re constructing instruments like Credential Supervisor API, now in Beta for Digital IDs.
Strengthening the Android ecosystem
Along with serving to builders construct stronger, safer apps on Google Play, we stay dedicated to defending the broader Android ecosystem. Final 12 months, our investments in stronger privateness insurance policies, AI-powered menace detection and different safety measures prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being printed on Google Play. Against this, our most up-to-date evaluation discovered over 50 instances extra Android malware from Web-sideloaded sources (like browsers and messaging apps) than on Google Play. This 12 months we’re engaged on methods to make it even more durable for malicious actors to cover or trick customers into dangerous installs, which is not going to solely shield your online business from fraud but additionally assist customers obtain your apps with confidence.
In the meantime, Google Play Shield is all the time evolving to fight new threats and shield customers from dangerous apps that may result in scams and fraud. As this can be a core a part of consumer security, we’re doing extra to maintain customers from being socially-engineered by scammers to show this off. First, Google Play Shield reside menace detection is increasing its safety to focus on malicious functions that attempt to impersonate monetary apps. And our enhanced monetary fraud safety pilot has continued to increase after a profitable launch in choose international locations the place we noticed malware based mostly monetary fraud coming from Web-sideloaded sources. We’re planning to increase the pilot all through this 12 months to extra international locations the place now we have seen larger ranges of malware-based monetary fraud.
We’re even working with different leaders throughout the {industry} to guard all customers, it doesn’t matter what system they use or the place they obtain their apps. As a founding member of the App Protection Alliance, we’re working to ascertain and promote industry-wide safety requirements for cellular and net functions, in addition to cloud configurations. Lately, the ADA launched Utility Safety Assessments (ASA) v1.0, which gives clear steerage to builders on defending delicate knowledge and defending towards cyber assaults to strengthen consumer belief.
What’s subsequent
Please hold the suggestions coming! We recognize understanding what could make our builders’ experiences extra environment friendly whereas guaranteeing we keep the best requirements in app security. Thanks in your continued partnership in making Android and Google Play a protected, thriving platform for everybody.