Google Play’s App Access Risk feature protects you from these apps
Google is now giving developers access to a new feature that can help them protect user data from dangerous applications. The company’s Play Integrity API has been updated with a feature called app access risk that can verify whether a user has installed apps that can record the contents of a user’s screen or control device actions, and then prompt the user to close those apps. This can protect users from malicious apps that are used to record a user’s screen while they are using sensitive apps.
The company has updated its Play Integrity API to support the new app access functionality that on display at Google I/O 2024. The updated documentation for the API (via Android Authority) explains that developers can request information about a user’s smartphone, including applications that can be used to “capture the screen, display overlays, or control the device” or to check whether Play Protect has “found risky or dangerous apps on the device.”
Users are prompted to close risky applications
Photo credit: Google
If the Play Integrity API detects an application unknown to Google Play Protect or a known app that can record the screen or control the device, the developer can use this information to display a prompt asking users to close the application to continue.
Not all apps that meet the above criteria will trigger the new app access risk prompt. Accessibility apps that have been checked by Google are reportedly allowed to run even when apps with sensitive information are opened, the report said.
The App Access Risk feature, which is part of the Play Integrity API, handles the process of displaying the apps and prompting users to close them. This prevents developers using the App Access Risk feature from collecting information about apps detected on a smartphone.
While the feature is currently in public beta, some developers have already added support for the functionality, the report said. The feature could help protect users who may have already been tricked into installing malicious apps that can record their screen contents while using banking or payment apps.
