Google Play overhauls store

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Posted by sciencetech-blog on Tuesday, March 17, 2015 Label:

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Google Play apps will now be scrutinised by Google reviewers and come with age-based content ratings, the company has revealed.

The announcement is a move away from the firm's strategy to differentiate itself from Apple by allowing developers to immediately publish their mobile apps.

But Google added that it will not be adopting Apple's practice of only approving apps that meet its stringent quality standards.

Google is tightening supervision of its freewheeling Play store, forming a special team to screen new apps for malware and sexually explicit material, and strengthening its age-based rating system

The change underscores the growing importance of apps in the success of the companies' rival mobile gadgets.

Google and Apple each manage online hubs with more than one million apps ranging from calendars to video games.

Google said in its official blog today that its expert team will screen each app submitted by developers to spot earlier anything that runs afoul of its rules.

The developer policies exclude sexually explicit material, 'gratuitous violence,' hate speech, gambling, 'dangerous products,' spam and infringement of intellectual property.

The new age-rating system will see Android developers filling in a questionnaire about their app or game instead of simply choosing a rating

Google had only used automated technology for screening at the time of submission.

The new process will not create bottlenecks, Google said, promising that approved apps will become available on Google Play within 'a matter of hours' after submission.

Apple does not disclose its app review period, but the website appreviewtimes.com puts the average wait time at seven days for Apple's App Store.

Developers must answer special questionnaires about their apps to help independent ratings organisations assign age-based ratings, Google said.

APPS ON GOOGLE PLAY MAY HAVE INSTALLED MALWARE ON PHONES

Millions of Android handsets have been exposed to malware through malicious apps being offered on Google Play.

The apps include the Durak card game, along with a history game and IQ test, which combined have been installed more than 15 million times.

The apps cause unwanted adverts to display on users' phones and their abnormal behaviour sometimes doesn't appear until a month after installation.

The apps were discovered after Prague-based antivirus provider, Avast, received a user complaint.

'This impression remains until you reboot your device and wait for a couple of days,' wrote Filip Chytry, an Avast mobile malware analyst.

'After a week, you might start to feel there is something wrong with your device. Some of the apps wait up to 30 days until they show their true colours.'

As well as Durak, the other other games included a Russian IQ test with up to five million installs, and a Russian history app game, which has been installed up to 50,000 times by Android users.

These apps have now been removed from Google Play.

'We know that people in different countries have different ideas about what content is appropriate for kids, teens and adults,' Google said in the blog post.

'Today's announcement will help developers better label their apps for the right audience.'

As of May, apps submitted without the questionnaire will not be published in Google Play, and existing apps that do not seek a rating could be blocked in certain markets or for certain users, Google said.

Google has also partnered with the International Age Rating Coalition, the Pan-European Game Information and the Australian Classification Board, to provide relevant ratings in various countries.

Until now, Google has let developers rate their own apps using a system created by Google.

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