Google recently announced that it will ban more than 600 apps from the Play Store for using aggressive advertising practices. Buzzfeed reports that many have been released by relatively popular developers such as Cheetah Mobile, with 45 apps available on the Play Store — with a few billion downloads — before being banned.
Although Google has not released a list of malicious applications, you can start by removing anything from your device, Cheat Mobile. If some of the apps you use most often are a little disgusted with their advertising, check to see if they are still in the Google Play Store. Otherwise, it’s time to remove them from your device and find an alternative. (Other than that, trying an application like AdGuard might help.)
The openness of Android apps and the Google Play Store gives developers more flexibility to features than iOS apps compared to Apple’s operating system. However, Google’s loose controls make it easier for bad actors to infiltrate malware or apps in the Play Store.
Google has been doing well in recent years banning dangerous and exploitative apps quickly, but as long as the Android operating system and Play Store are still open, Android users need to be extra careful with what they download (although reasonably, Apple users do not).
However, if an app triggers fullscreen ads when you are not using them or pushes too many ads to make your phone unusable, immediately report it to Google and leave a review that warns other users about the problem.
