The most frequent argument made for Android as an operating system vs Apple’s iOS is how much more ‘open’ it is as a platform. There are very few restrictions on what apps may be submitted to Google’s Play Store, and users can even download software from external sites or third-party stores. Compare this to iOS, where all apps must go through fairly stringent screening and can only be downloaded from Apple’s official App Store, and the benefits are pretty obvious.
Of course, so are the negatives. Less checks and supervision from Google means more viruses, malware, trackers, and all other sorts of nasty things. The company launched their Verified Apps service not too long ago, which allows you to run an app by Google before you download it to see if it passes their identification tests. Very handy, but what of the apps that you downloaded before its introduction in 2012? For all the average user knows, there could still be harmful apps laying dormant on your device that had been long since forgotten.
Not any more, says Google. Its new update will provide constant scans for malware, monitoring apps to make sure that they are running in a ‘safe manner’. Whilst previously just 0.18% of installs would go ahead once users were warned of potential harm, this latest measure should help minimise the risk even further.
