Apps with 5.8M Google Play downloads stole users’ Facebook passwords

I accept that Google can't always pick these apps up when published but they need a transparent mechanism for reporting and taking them down.

I have a successful app on the Play store that is becoming less and less successful over time because almost all the competition do not play by the rules and violate the terms in one way or another but mostly comment spam which unfairly boosts their rankings.

Google do have a page to report them on but the response despite giving clear examples of repeated review and repeated fake reviewers is always thanks for your report and that's it.

So far I've not seen any action. Apps are still there and still full of fake reviews.

So I think Google is definitely motivated to keep malware off of its app store. It’s bad for business. But we see the malicious apps from time to time anyway.

Likewise Apple is motivated to keep malware off the app store. Again it’s a bad reflection on Apple when they sneak through, but they do.

I just don’t see third parties being more motivated or having more resources than Apple or Google to police an app store. The malware is going to be worse on a third party app store, and they will quickly turn to dark patterns in order to maximize whatever they can squeeze out of the user.

I’m not opposed to opening up competition on app stores. Just don’t come back here to register your shock when the malware situation is kicked into overdrive.