Multiple applications installed on the Android device can interfere with the presence of some specific applications or even worse they can gather the complete list of the application installed on the user device and the application can also be notified in case the new application is downloaded or installed.

This unwanted information will be a risk for the user and all the usual concerns are all about the misusing of these data, the data can be abused or manipulated by other malicious applications, and the cause the fraud or popups the unwanted advertisement.

If we talk about Twitter in 2014, it will be started tracking the list of applications that was installed on the user’s device and it will generate the application graph having the aim to furnish the tailored content. Whereas, the Digital Wallet or Payment organization named as MobiKwik also caught while collecting the user’s installed application information that was leaked in the recent data breach.

What Google is Doing?

However, multiple experts also found out that most of the free applications are executing such queries and using the user information or the third-party libraries that are the main thing needed for the list of installed applications.

The experts said that on average the 80 applications are installed on the user devices and most of them are free since there is a high chance that the applications are trying to get the list of applications installed on the user device.

According to the reports of Academic Study published in March 2020, the experts find out that the 4214 Google Play applications are getting amassed and authorizing the developers to advertise and building a detailed profile of connected users. The Application also tries to get the use of named as installed application methods that include getInstalledPackages() and getInstalledApplications(). The research also finds out these applications are associated with gaming, personalization, autos, comics, vehicles, and other categories that are on the list while collecting or gathering the user data.

In 2020, Google also tries to ruin the behavior of the malicious application who are trying to get access from the information and introduce the new permissions known as “QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES” for the application that are needed to get access to the list of other installed applications.

Google also added that the filtering behavior also supports them while minimizing the amount of information and the application doesn’t need the order while fulfilling the utilize cases and your application is still accessible.

Now, Google is taking serious steps for restricting and misusing the QUALITY_ALL_PACKAGES permission, Google also said that they were treating the inventory of all the downloaded applications and other confidential user data.

Summering Up

The updates will be driven on 5th May 2021 and the permission will be limited to the applications that are used for device search, although the antivirus application, browsers, file managers. Also, the other applications are dedicated to the banking apps or the digital wallet that can qualify the permission of solely or the security-based purposes.

While making the security more updated the Google also revoke the request QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES and the permission that allowed the attackers to take the data.

Applications are failed to meet the policy requirements that do not meet the submit a Declaration Form that may be removed from Google Play. If you change the application uses that restricted the permission that you revise the declaration and update the information.