Overly curious programs were shown the door.
Google has summarized its efforts to protect the Android ecosystem and the Google Play app store through 2025. Amid the growing number of attacks and the use of AI-powered tools by attackers, the company has strengthened its automated verification mechanisms and expanded its developer oversight system. The focus has been on preventing threats before they reach users.
Over the past year, Google Play moderation has blocked the publication of over 1.75 million apps that violated the platform's rules and blocked over 80,000 developer accounts attempting to publish malicious apps . The company attributes this to stricter requirements for app developers, mandatory pre-screening, and additional testing. Each app undergoes over 10,000 automated reviews, and monitoring continues even after it's published in the store.
In 2025, Google implemented new generative AI models in its moderation process. This allowed it to more quickly identify complex malicious schemes. Furthermore, the company denied more than 255,000 apps access to sensitive user data if the requested permissions appeared excessive. They also stepped up their fight against rating manipulation: anti-spam filters blocked approximately 160 million fake ratings and reviews, including attempts to deliberately lower or inflate ratings.
Particular attention was paid to child protection. The store introduced additional restrictions that prevent minors from finding and installing apps related to gambling or dating services.
Google Play Protect , built into Android, scans over 350 billion apps on users' devices daily. In 2025, the mechanism detected over 27 million new malicious programs distributed outside of Google Play. Enhanced fraud protection now analyzes app installation attempts from browsers and messaging apps that request sensitive permissions. After a pilot launch in Singapore, the feature was rolled out in 185 countries, covering over 2.8 billion devices. Over the course of a year, the system blocked 266 million risky installations and identified 872,000 unique malicious apps.
A new feature called "phone call protection" has also been added. It temporarily disables the ability to deactivate Play Protect, preventing attackers from persuading victims to remove protection and install malware.
New verification mechanisms have been added to developer tools. Android Studio now features Play Policy Insights, which helps ensure store requirements are met even during coding. The Play Integrity API processes over 20 billion requests daily to detect spoofed devices and unauthorized access. A mechanism for re-identifying devices detected as abusive, even after they have been reset, has been launched in beta mode.
Android 16 introduces additional protection against tapjacking , a technique used by malware to intercept keystrokes through hidden interface layers. To activate this protection, developers simply need to add a single line of code.
The company said it would continue to strengthen automated protections and expand developer verification to make it more difficult for malicious apps to be deployed anonymously.
Google has summarized its efforts to protect the Android ecosystem and the Google Play app store through 2025. Amid the growing number of attacks and the use of AI-powered tools by attackers, the company has strengthened its automated verification mechanisms and expanded its developer oversight system. The focus has been on preventing threats before they reach users.
Over the past year, Google Play moderation has blocked the publication of over 1.75 million apps that violated the platform's rules and blocked over 80,000 developer accounts attempting to publish malicious apps . The company attributes this to stricter requirements for app developers, mandatory pre-screening, and additional testing. Each app undergoes over 10,000 automated reviews, and monitoring continues even after it's published in the store.
In 2025, Google implemented new generative AI models in its moderation process. This allowed it to more quickly identify complex malicious schemes. Furthermore, the company denied more than 255,000 apps access to sensitive user data if the requested permissions appeared excessive. They also stepped up their fight against rating manipulation: anti-spam filters blocked approximately 160 million fake ratings and reviews, including attempts to deliberately lower or inflate ratings.
Particular attention was paid to child protection. The store introduced additional restrictions that prevent minors from finding and installing apps related to gambling or dating services.
Google Play Protect , built into Android, scans over 350 billion apps on users' devices daily. In 2025, the mechanism detected over 27 million new malicious programs distributed outside of Google Play. Enhanced fraud protection now analyzes app installation attempts from browsers and messaging apps that request sensitive permissions. After a pilot launch in Singapore, the feature was rolled out in 185 countries, covering over 2.8 billion devices. Over the course of a year, the system blocked 266 million risky installations and identified 872,000 unique malicious apps.
A new feature called "phone call protection" has also been added. It temporarily disables the ability to deactivate Play Protect, preventing attackers from persuading victims to remove protection and install malware.
New verification mechanisms have been added to developer tools. Android Studio now features Play Policy Insights, which helps ensure store requirements are met even during coding. The Play Integrity API processes over 20 billion requests daily to detect spoofed devices and unauthorized access. A mechanism for re-identifying devices detected as abusive, even after they have been reset, has been launched in beta mode.
Android 16 introduces additional protection against tapjacking , a technique used by malware to intercept keystrokes through hidden interface layers. To activate this protection, developers simply need to add a single line of code.
The company said it would continue to strengthen automated protections and expand developer verification to make it more difficult for malicious apps to be deployed anonymously.
