Dozens of apps from the Google Play Store

The sun is rising, the sun is setting. Bad apps are on the Google Play Store, bad apps are removed. Repeat.

It has become very common for applications containing malware and adware to be discovered on the Play Store. Of course, they end up being deleted, but it seems that Google does not do much to stop them from entering the store.

This time it's different – and on a much larger scale. Google has just removed not only dozens of apps downloaded hundreds of millions of times, but it has also kicked the developer out. It's time to check your phone.

Business as usual on the Google Play Store

I could report all the waves of problematic apps removed from the Google Play Store, but no one has the time to read it all. So let's take a look at some of the highlights of this year alone, keeping in mind that it's still not quite the month of May.

By mid-January, many remote control applications were fake and full of adware, but not before they were downloaded to about 8 million Android devices. About a month later, an application containing a "clipper" malware was discovered.

We could not even get to Mars without another problem. A malicious code called "DrainerBot" has infected hundreds of applications downloaded about 10 million times.

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Although this one is not linked to any advertising software or malicious program, it was found just a few days ago that a hot spots search application was storing millions of passwords. plain text in an unprotected database. Then there is this last problem …

Applications being removed by tens

This latest case of Magic Endangered Apps was caused by a recent BuzzFeed News survey of a Chinese-based Android developer called DO Global. They found that the developer was committing both advertising fraud and intentionally retaining user details. Pleasant.

At the time of the initial report, they had found at least six apps developed by DO Global with a code that would fraudulently click ads, even when users did not use it. These were applications with generic names like Selfie camera, Pic Tool Group and Total Cleaner. In addition, DO Global belongs in part to Baidu, which is essentially Google of China.

But what makes the situation worse than the common problems of the Google Play Store, is that this developer has, or at least had about 100 apps with over 600 million installations. These are much larger statistics than the typical harvest of bad apps.

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Last Friday, Google dropped the hatchet and removed nearly 50 of these apps from the Play Store. And according to Buzzfeed's report, they seek to completely ban DO Global. They seem to be convinced that DO Global has also been launched on Google's AdMob network, its large mobile advertising service.

If this is true, this could be one of his biggest bans. It also means that Google is not afraid to outright ban developers, as it had already done in the past.

Check your device for bad apps

Since DO Global has had the trouble to hide its identity in many of these applications, there is no complete list to work with. Often, you need to look for signs that your smartphone is responding poorly to malicious applications. And there is a story.

With these unbearable advertising click apps, the big side effects to look for concern your battery and your data. Does your battery discharge faster than usual or is your device much hotter to the touch? Do you spend a lot more mobile data than you should? Perhaps you have noticed that your phone is slow and not responding.

The first thing you can check is which applications use a lot of data. On a typical Android phone, go to Settings >> Network and Internet >> Working with Data >> Using Application Data. If you see an unusually high amount of data and you do not know why, the best is to uninstall it.

I repeat: there is a considerable number of applications and users potentially impacted, even for the Google Play Store. But just the fact that there is once again more adware on the store? By for the course.

Remove these apps from your Android phone

If you have ever looked at your smartphone and said "I have too many applications," it's a clutter and it's time to take action.

Click or tap here to discover a lot of applications that you should consider removing, to lighten your phone.