Google Remotely Deletes Android Apps

By PCMag Staff

June 24, 2010

Google this week removed two applications from its Android Market, and exercised a feature that lets the company remotely delete the apps from a user's phones.

Google did not reveal the names of these apps, and said only that they were "two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes."

The apps were found to be "intentionally misrepresenting their purpose in order to encourage user downloads," Rich Cannings, Android security lead, wrote in a blog post. "But they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data."

As a result, they were removed from the Android Market, but also remotely pulled them from the phones on which they were installed.

"In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we've also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove an installed application from devices," Cannings wrote. "If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone."

Google said, however, that these apps did not pose any threat and were "practically useless." Most users deleted them shortly after downloading, he said. The remote option, Google said, "provides a powerful security advantage to help protect Android users in our open environment."