A POWERFUL Google setting can save you from very dangerous apps on your Android phone.
If you’re worried that you may have installed something risky, there’s an easy solution.
It’s called Google Play Protect and it uses a series of measures to keep you safe.
The feature works by checking the apps you are downloading – or that you already have on your device – to see if they are harmful.
And if Google discovers something that could put you at risk (like an app spying on you), it will ask you to delete it.
“It runs a security check on apps from the Google Play Store before downloading them,” Google explained.
“It scans your device for potentially harmful apps from other sources. These harmful apps are sometimes called malware.”
Sometimes Google even automatically disables or removes harmful apps from your Android telephone.
Google adds: “For safety, we recommend that you always keep Google Play Protect turned on.”
The search engine giant claims the feature checks up to 125 billion apps per day.
And if it detects a harmful app, you will receive a notification.
You can then tap the notification and choose Uninstall.
Google may even disable the app while waiting for you to uninstall it.
And in many cases, Google says it will simply notify you that it has automatically removed the app from your device.
Never ignore any of the notifications asking you to delete apps.
Google Play Protect explained
Here’s what Google says Play Protect does…
- It runs a security check on apps from the Google Play Store before downloading them.
- It scans your device for potentially harmful apps from other sources. These harmful apps are sometimes called malware.
- It warns you about potentially harmful apps.
- It can disable or remove harmful apps from your device.
- It warns you about detected applications that violate our Unwanted Software Policy by hiding or misrepresenting important information.
- It sends privacy alerts about apps that may obtain user permissions to access your personal information in violation of our Developer Policy.
- This may reset app permissions to protect your privacy on certain Android versions.
- This can prevent the installation of an app that has not been verified and uses sensitive device permissions that are commonly targeted by scammers to commit financial fraud.
Malware is extremely dangerous and can be used to spy on you, slow down your device, and even steal from you.
HOW TO CHECK IF GOOGLE PLAY PROTECT IS ON
Please note that Google Play Protect is enabled by default.
So all you need to do is make sure you never turn it off.
To be safe, we recommend that you always keep Google Play Protect turned on.
Just go to the Google Play Store and tap the profile icon in the top right corner.
Then go to Play Protect > Settings and turn on Check apps with Play Protect.
You can also submit apps from unknown sources outside of the Google Play Store to Google.
Google explains: “By turning on the ‘Improve harmful app detection’ setting, you allow Google Play Protect to automatically send unknown apps to Google.”
Just go to the Google Play Store, tap your profile icon, and go to Play Protect > Settings.
Then turn on Improve detection of harmful apps.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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