Android ecosystem security

Our mission is to protect the billions of Android devices out there. This report provides transparency into our efforts to reduce Potentially Harmful Application (PHA) rates on devices and in Google Play.

Removing Potentially Harmful Applications (PHAs) from Android devices

Google Play Protect detects and removes PHAs on Android devices through a collection of mobile threat prevention and removal options for downloaded PHAs which includes:

Regularly scheduled and on-demand PHA scans, both online and offline
Automatically disabling or removing PHA threats
Uploading new apps to the cloud for scanning
SafetyNet signal detection
Machine learning models

Learn more about these protections and their impact in our Annual Android Security Report.

Percentage of devices with PHA

In 2017, we improved Android services by launching Google Play Protect, providing users with more features and visibility to Android’s state of security. Google Play Protect offers a variety of protection services that detect and remove potentially harmful applications (PHAs) on Android devices licensed with Google Mobile Services, regardless of where users obtain their apps. The chart below shows a rolling 12-month rate of Android devices with Google Play Protect enabled that have one or more potentially harmful applications installed from Google Play Store.

Percentage of devices with PHA by Android version

The Android versions in this chart represent approximately 90% of the Android ecosystem. The data below shows the percentage of devices by version that had at least one PHA installed.

Learn more about these Android versions

Android ecosystem security

Transparency is key to our philosophy. From our open source platform to keeping users informed, we share knowledge across our community.

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Learn more about Android security & privacy