Joe Hindy / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is introducing a new security measure in Android that makes the option to disable Play Protect unavailable during voice calls.
- The company is initially releasing it in Singapore, but we’ve managed to enable it to give you an early look.
- The security measure aims to prevent scammers from tricking users into installing malicious apps on their devices.
Google recently announced several new security features for Google Messages to protect users from scams. In addition, the company introduced a new change that prevents users from disabling Google Play Protect during voice calls to prevent malefactors from tricking users into installing malicious apps on their devices. Like some of the new Google Messages features, Google will first introduce this change in Singapore, but we’ve enabled it ahead of the wider release to give you an early look.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Google Play Protect safeguards users from installing unverified apps on their devices. However, Google allows users to turn off the feature if they wish to sideload apps that Play Protect may erroneously flag as harmful. Scammers can exploit this option and trick unsuspecting users into installing malicious apps on their devices. Google aims to prevent this with the new change by making the option unavailable during voice calls.
You can disable Play Protect by navigating to the Play Protect option in the Play Store settings, selecting the cog icon in the top-right corner, and tapping the toggle next to the “Scan apps with Play Protect” option. As you can see in the attached video, the upcoming change grays out the toggle during voice calls, preventing users from disabling Play Protect and making it difficult for scammers to make them install potentially harmful apps on their devices.
As mentioned earlier, Google is rolling out this security measure in Singapore. While the latest Google Play Store release already has the code to implement this change, it’s currently unavailable in other regions. Google could roll it out widely with a future update.
