Google Deleted 85 Adware Apps That Make Money Out Of Showing Unwanted Ads

Google just cracked down on 85 adware apps and took them out of its Play Store. This list was compiled by Trend Micro’s researchers of security and includes some utility apps and even famous games. They share the same behavior of displaying either full-screen or hidden ads to make money out of Android users.

Some people may argue that many legitimate apps also show ads. The main difference here is apps that have ads will only show them when the users are using the apps, while adware will pop up ads that have nothing to do with the sites or apps users are visiting.

It was estimated that these 85 apps have influenced a minimum of 9 million people. A TV remote app alone has accounted for 5 million already. The app boasted this many downloads while there are a lot of bad reviews about the unwanted ads. In some cases, users reported that because there were so many ads popping up, they could not even use the app’s main function.

The researchers revealed that the majority of the apps share the same code and some of them even have much the same names. With users’ every click or tap, an ad will be showed and the adware will bring money to its developers.

To some people, adware apps do not sound as malicious as malware. In fact, most of the latter thieve user’s data while the majority of the former only shows unwanted ads. However, adware could be used as a mean to deceive users into installing malware, which can result in a large number of deceitful dollars per week.

Google has been working hard to check apps before showing them on Play Store. According to TechCrunch, last year alone saw the company deleting more than 700,000 apps. However, this effort does not seem to solve the problem at its root as adware apps keep popping up from time to time.