How to identify fake Android apps in Play Store

Fake Android apps in the Play Store are a problem. People create listings designed to look exactly like popular apps,often using the same icon and name, to trick you into downloading it, then bombarding you with ads or malware.According to How to Geek, this issue has been prominent lately. A fake version of WhatsApp was downloaded by more than one million people last year, and just this month, Reddit android community found a fake version of the popular SwiftKey keyboard and an ad-riddled version of VLC on the Play Store.

The first two were removed after making headlines, and while Google finally took down the VLC after being at the top of the Android sub-reddit all day.These types of apps are not something to take lightly. Behind the scenes, they’re often doing something dangerous, like stealing all of your personal info, tracking every move you make, or evenworse.What Google is doing to combat this issue?This isn’t a new problem; it’s been happening for years andthe fake apps are getting better and getting more downloads.Fortunately, Google is startingto address the issue with Google Play Protect—a security system to verify appsin the Play Store.It scans apps upon entry into Google Play. Google also says it removed over 700,000 malicious apps last year. But, as we’ve already noted, there are still some big ones gettingthrough.

Play Protect was announced less than a year ago, so it’s still a relatively new system. As with most, there will be bumps along the way—we’re just hoping Google uses this system to figure out a better way to control malicious content in its official app store.How to spot these fake apps Regardless of how good Play Protect actually gets, there’s always going to be a certain percentage of malicious apps that find their way into the Store.That’s why it’s pertinent to pay attention. The best thing you can do to make sure you’re not installing a bunch of crap is to take a couple of minutes to look over the app listing before you install it. A little due diligence goes a long way.

Take a close look at the search resultsIf you search the Play Store for the app you want to install,take a few seconds to glance at all the entries—especially ifyou see the same icon more than once.Fake apps will almost always use the icon from the app they’re trying to mimic, so it should immediately cause suspicion if you see the sameicon more than once.

This is the first way fake apps trick people into installing them. If the icons are the same, turn to the names.Check the app name and developerTake a close look at the app name and the developer. In the case of the fake WhatsApp, the developer name was visually identical, but the name of the app should’ve raised a red flag because of the word “update” added to its name.

The fake SwiftKey app that recently landed was called “Swift Keyboard”—something that users unfamiliar with SwiftKey could easily mistakefor the real application. But the developer name was “Designer Superman”—a clearindicator that something isn’t right since SwiftKey is developed by a company of the same name and owned by Microsoft.If the developer name isn’t an immediate indicator, you should also check their other apps. You can do this on the web by clicking on the developer name on the Play Store listing; on your phone, just scroll down close to the bottom of the app listing to see more apps from that developer.Check the download countIf you’re downloading a popular app, always take a quick look at the download number. Let’s say you’re installing the Facebook app—one of the most downloaded apps in Google Play with over a billion installsat the time of writing.But what if the listing you’re looking at only has, say 5,000? It’s probably the wronglisting. There’s not much of a chance a fake app will last in the Store long enough to get that many downloads, so it’s an easy way to spot a fraud, assuming you’re looking at a popular app.If it’s not so popular, however,this won’t help as much. Of course, a fake app should always have fewer downloadsthan the app it is imitating—again, just pay attention to the numbers.Read the description and lookat the screenshotsThis is an important step. If everything else looks close enough, the description can often be the thing that gives itaway. If the wording seems off or is written in broken English, that should raise the red flag.Most legitimate developers do a good job of providing clear communication as to what their apps do. Most use good, clean formatting in the listing. Again, if something feels weird here, it probably is.The same applies to the images. Now, there’s a chance these could be stolen from the legitimate Play Store listing (just like the icon), but you should take a closer look anyway.For example, look at the fake SwiftKey we’ve talked about several times already: The images look pretty good, but “typing like flying swift”? Whatthe hell does that even mean?Finally, read the reviewsAfter you’ve looked at all the details, spend some time reading a few of the reviews. Fake apps will often have fakereviews, but there are also likely to be some legitimate reviews from users who realised the app was bogus after installing it. A quick skimwill generally be all it takes—look for the negative reviews and see what the issues are. If it’s fake, hopefully someonehas called it out in the reviews.