Google apps banned! 3 malicious Android apps booted from Play Store; Delete now

After a massive crackdown on dangerous apps that saw Google slap a ban on as many as 150 apps recently, the company has now banned more apps from Google Play Store in order to protect users who download apps like these from its store. At Google I/O this year, the company had revealed that there were 3 billion active Android devices today and the removal of these apps will benefit users who might have been tricked into using them.

These three apps that were banned from Google Play Store were using shady tactics to fool users into parting with their personal information and their money. Security firm Kaspersky spotted these applications and stated that the Facebook Login mechanism was used to trick users into parting with their information.

Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here.

The ‘Login with Facebook’ button on several web services and apps is used to quickly authenticate users and allow them to use a service without having to create another username and password, and it is used by popular services like Spotify and Tinder. However, according to the security firm, these apps were using sign-in data to steal login credentials and access users personal information.

Google banned apps list

The names of the banned apps are "Magic Photo Lab - Photo Editor”, "Blender Photo Editor-Easy Photo Background Editor", and "Pix Photo Motion Edit 2021". These apps have been banned from the Play Store.

How to stay safe from these apps banned by Google

Users who have downloaded these apps will have to remove them manually from their phones, and should ideally change their Facebook login details as well.

Users can stick to well-known photo editing apps and now download any shady app, in order to keep their data safe and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. While downloading, be very wary and check the language on the Google Play Store regarding the app and see if there are grammatical and factual errors. Try and verify credentials as far as possible of all apps that you download. Remember, they may look legitimate, but they may not be so at all. The onus is on the user.