Google Banned 12 Android Apps – Millions Warned to Delete them Immediately

Onsa MustafaLast Updated: Feb 3, 2023

Google has blocked 12 apps from its Play store. Not only this but the company warned millions of users to delete them immediately. Google has banned 12 Android apps because they were tricking users into watching endless adverts or trying to steal sensitive data via phishing attacks.

Google Banned 12 Android Apps – Millions Warned to Delete them Immediately

Some of these were fitness apps, while others were games. The issues were discovered by the cyber security team at Dr Web. Some of the affected apps had been downloaded more than five million times by users across the world.

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The first pair of apps removed from Google promised users rewards for staying active. The more walking and exercise users did each day the more points they scored towards free prizes. However, when most people tried to cash out they were either blocked from claiming or asked to watch endless adverts with nothing in return.

These apps were:

Lucky Step – Walking Tracker • 10 million downloads
WalkingJoy – 5 million downloads
Lucky Habit: health tracker – 5 million downloads (currently still available on the Play Store).

The other apps removed from Google’s servers were found to be trying to syphon personal data via phishing tactics. Phishing is when attackers attempt to trick users into clicking a bad link which will download malware.

Apps removed from the Play store