Google Play Protect offers comprehensive security services to all Android devices, and is Google’s latest way of helping ensure that customers feel safe with peace of mind when using their devices to download and use apps. Announced today at Google I/O 2017, Google Play Protect is integrated with every single Android device that has Google Play on it and is always keeping an eye on your apps in the Play Store to make sure that what you’re installing is safe to actually install. The new security service will scan apps when needed and while scanning apps to ensure they’re safe isn’t anything new in and of itself, Play Protect makes this action visual so users can see when scans are actually happening.
During a scan Play Protect will tell you if an app is safe to install and then alert you to any issues that may be there with whatever apps you have on your device. Apps aren’t scanned individually, meaning you won’t have to select apps on a per app basis, rather if you open up to the my apps section of the Play Store and then navigate to the updates tab, the Play Protect data will be listed at the very top, and a refresh button will sit at the far right of this Play Protect card. Tapping that will immediately being a scan of all your apps followed by the results. Play Protect will also scan automatically from time to time so users won’t have to initiate a scan unless they want to.
Users will be able to see the date and times of their scans as well, though this will be limited to the very last scan that happened. For example, let’s say an automatic scan happened at 10:30 am on a Saturday morning, you’ll be able to see this information and then use that to decide if you want to initiate another scan or leave it be. Play Protect is just the latest security effort that Google has put forth for Android device users, but it’s also in addition to things like the Find My Device app, which is simply device manager with a new name and a UI update.