Google rolled out a security update for the Play Store recently, which means that any app a developer uploads to the store is scanned for code that could harm your device or steal your data without permission. Soon Google will offer the same kind of security, even for apps that you don’t download from the Play Store.
That’s because Android 4.2 will be able to scan every app you install from any source.
Computer World reports that the feature will be optional — you can disable it if you don’t want Google looking at your third party apps. But if you’re downloading and installing apps from third party stores such as the Amazon Appstore or GetJar… or directly from developer websites, it’s nice to have the option of checking them using Google’s security tools.
With the feature enabled, if you try to install an app that Google has blacklisted, the install will fail. And if you try to install an app that raises some red flags, but which doesn’t contain known malware, you’ll get a warning. Apps that are known to be safe should install without any problems.
Android 4.2 checks apps against a list on Google’s servers — so you’ll need an internet connection for this to work. But I’m guessing that 99 percent of the time you’re trying to install apps, it’s because you’ve just downloaded them from the internet anyway.
via Android Police
Google seems to be doing an admirable job of taking popular features offered by third-party apps and incorporating them into future builds of Android.