Google says potentially harmful Android apps on Google Play declined by 31%

Google notes that the overall health of the Android ecosystem has improved. With the use of AI-enabled Google Play Protect, the service is able to scan over 50 billion apps daily.

In 2018, 0.45 % of Android devices running Google Play Protect had PHAs installed (REUTERS)

Google has released its annual Android Security and Privacy report for 2018 outlining the overall health and risks its popular and most widely ecosystem faced in the year.

The report observed that there had been an overall increase in potentially harmful application (PHA) downloads. The percentage of PHAs downloaded from the official Google Play Store increased from 0.02 % in 2017 to 0.04 % in 2018.

However, if the numbers for click fraud are removed from these stats, then the PHAs have actually declined by 31 % year-over-year, Engadget reports.

Google notes that the overall health of the Android ecosystem has improved. With the use of AI-enabled Google Play Protect, the service is able to scan over 50 billion apps daily.

In 2018, 0.45 % of Android devices running Google Play Protect had PHAs installed, down from 0.56 % in the previous year. The app also prevented 1.6 billion PHA installation attempts from outside of the official Google Play Store.