Security researchers have warned that malicious apps with hundreds of millions of installs have been detected in the Google Play Store. Here’s what you need to know.

Google Play Store is testing a fixed app header with an easy to reach Install button, making it easy to install apps even with long listings.

For three years, Google will have to let third-party Android app stores access the Google Play Store's catalog of apps "so that they may offer the Play Store apps to users," said the injunction issued by US District Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California.

We’ve already seen a report from Statista, which showed that as of June 2024, the number of Play Store apps available was down a almost a million apps year-on-year, albeit at 1.7 million titles, there remains an expansive attack surface as the constant game of cat and mouse between bad actors and Google’s security team continues.

Google has requested a stay of the US injunction that opens the Play Store to third-party app stores, among other things.

The security vendor discovered over 200 malicious apps in the period on Google Play, which is nominally a safer platform for Android downloads than third-party app stores. These apps collectively garnered more than eight million installs.

In a landmark ruling, Judge James Donato has declared Google's tight grip on the Play Store an illegal monopoly, forcing them to usher in an era of unprecedented openness and competition. This verdict,

The app store environment just got a little more competitive following a decision by a U.S. judge that will force Google to open up its Play Store to competitors for three years. It's Epic Games' latest victory in its four-year antitrust battle with Google.

The tech giant tries to stave off a judge's efforts to force it to open its Play app store to wider competition.

Alphabet Inc. must lift restrictions that prevent developers from setting up rival marketplaces that compete with its Google Play Store, a judge ruled, upending the search giant’s dominance in the lucrative Android app market.