Fake antivirus app pulled from Play Store, Google issues refund and an apology

In a bit of a surprise move by Google, users that were fooled by a fake antivirus app in the Google Play Store are not only getting their money back, but Google is giving them an additional $5 credit to play with. The app was called Virus Shield and sold for $3.99 to about 10,000 users before it was pulled from the Play Store.

Virus Shield managed to sneak its way past all the checks and make it to the top of a couple Play Store ‘Top’ categories. Android Police caught on and had much to say about it, and the app was removed from the Play Store on April 6th.

The fake antivirus app claimed to prevent harmful apps from being installed on your device, scan apps, settings and more in real time and protect your personal information. However, as it turns out, Virus Shield performed one role for users – click the emblem and the image changes. That is it. In fact, we shall re-create its entire functionality for you in non-clickable .gif format below, for free.

Within an email that is firing out to those that purchased the app, Google states that Virus Shield violates Play Store policy by making false claims, which is why they are issuing refunds of the purchase amount. Hopefully Google will not be stuck footing any of this bill, that they can still simply withhold funds, or straight out charge the developer, Deviant Solutions for the refunds. Checkout the full email here.

As for that $5 Play Store credit, Google is certainly making amends to users for allowing such an app to go unchecked for so long within the Play Store. We applaud Google’s actions and how they have taken ownership of righting any wrongs. We know that Google has tools in place to weed out bad apps, like Virus Shield, from the Play Store. We only hope that Google will incorporate all they have learned from this situation to help prevent similar from happening again.

What do you think, in addition to the well deserved returned purchase price, should Google be issuing the additional $5 Play Store credit to those that purchased Virus Shield? Or should Google take more of a ‘buyer beware’ approach to Play Store purchases?

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Google stock camera app available now in Play Store [Update]

Sterling Keys 2014-04-17T09:00:00Z1 day ago2014-04-17T14:44:10Z— updated 1 day ago

Sterling Keys

After finishing his Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Alberta, Sterling made the move to Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Within a stone's throw of mountains, ocean, and complete wilderness, he mountain bikes and skis during the day and is hopelessly connected to his phone and computer at all other times. His writing "career" started as he penned about his escapades while skiing and has slowly progressed to freelance marketing and promotion throughout British Columbia. Interested in anything tech and gadget related, he has thoroughly enjoyed his transition of writing for AndroidPIT.

Google has released their official stock camera app into the Play Store as of today! Moving along to offering more stand-alone varieties of their Google branded apps, much like what they did earlier in 2013 with their Google Keyboard.

The stock Google camera is now available for download via the Play Store. / © Google Play

The new stock camera app includes a new interface and some new nifty features, such as a lens blue feature and viewfinder fix that allows you to capture 100% of the photo you're taking. Thankfully, the app is not just constrained to Nexus devices and is working across different devices and manufacturers.

The new blur feature in action with the stock camera app. / © Google Play

In order to be able to grab the updated app from the Play Store, you’ll need to be running an Android device with KitKat (sorry anyone not quite up to speed with Android 4.4). One of the advantages of moving towards releasing this as a stand-alone app is that Google can now roll out updates specific to their camera without having to release an OTA update for the operating system.

Also, check out the following video from the Android Police of what the camera app does if you try to take a vertical video? Thanks Google!

You can grab the new stock camera app either via the Google Play Store or by grabbing the APK file that is hosted over at Android Police. 

[Update: 17 April 2014, Berlin, 4 PM]

As shown in an APK teardown by Android Police, we still haven't seen the end of the Android camera development. In the code hides some clues that point towards more functions that could be released in future updates.

One of these is the possibility to apply Photosphere photos as live wallpaper. There could also be more settings options for advanced users in areas that have lagged behind other manufacturers and that in comparison with previous versions seems to have taken a few steps backward.

Three more camera modes are also hinted at in the code: an advanced mode, a time lapse mode and a wide-angle mode. When capturing videos, a photo can also be taking while it is still rolling, a possibility that many other apps and custom ROMS already offer. According to the code, more video effects could be on their way.Three more camera modes are also hinted at in the code: an advanced mode, a time lapse mode and a wide-angle mode. When capturing videos, a photo can also be taking while it is still rolling, a possibility that many other apps and custom ROMS already offer. According to the code, more video effects could be on their way.

Source: Android Police, Google Play

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Pre-Easter app deals - the Play Store bunny came early

Loie Favre 2014-04-15T12:00:01Z1 day ago

Loie Favre

Loie Favre is a Canadian-German, food-loving, live-music-craving globe-trotter. Coming from a humble background in the Canadian Prairies centred around nature and the Arts, she studied Translation and Languages in Edmonton. She left his home on the Pacific Coast of Canada, to seek her fortune in Berlin. She is now an Editor and Manager for AndroidPIT.com and is enjoying discovering about everything and anything under the sun about Android.

The Easter Bunny is early this year! Many surprise eggs, aka app deals, are waiting to be discovered. A plethora of developers and their fantabulous apps are going on sale and we thought we’d share a pre-Easter treat in anticipation of the weekend. There are games, live wallpapers and office apps ranging from 0.67 to 4.99 USD, from 25% up to 99% off.

© AndroidPIT

In addition to the apps on sale below, you can find more with Google Play's own Easter app sale and deals.

Paperland Pro Live Wallpaper - 1.49 USD

Business Calendar Pro - 2.49 USD

OfficeSuite Pro 7 (PDF&Fonts) - 0.99 USD

Spensa Pro. Expense Tracker - 4.99 USD

Jack Lumber - 0.99 USD

God of Light HD - 0.99 USD

Install God of Light HD from the Play Store.

Rabbids Big Bang - 0.49 USD

Assassin’s Creed Pirates - 1.99 USD

Sprinkle Islands - 0.99 USD

Rayman Fiesta Run - 0.99 USD

Riptide GP2 - 0.99 USD

Lost Light - 0.75 USD

Toy Story: Smash it - 0.75 USD

Where’s My Mickey - 0.75 USD

Where’s My Perry? - 0.75 USD

Temple Run: Brave - 0.75 USD

Temple Run: Oz - 0.75 USD

Where’s my Water? - 0.75 USD

Boson X - 0.67 USD

Enjoy the deals!

Source: Play Store Spring Promotion

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Get the Google Play store on your Kindle Fire

Anthony Muzonzini 2014-04-15T20:51:16Z19 hours ago

Anthony Muzonzini

Currently living out in the East Coast. When not on the AndroidPIT grind you can usually find me turning up or play footie.

The Kindle Fire is a great tablet for those who use Amazon’s services and it comes at a great price point which bodes well for those looking for budget friendly devices. Kindle also runs Android although the version of Android it runs is heavily modified it is very difficult to see it runs Android and with no Google Play store device around it becomes hard to use it like any other Android device. Thankfully though, you can install the Play Store on your actual Kindle with a little bit of work. This is how you do it.

You can get the Google Play Store on your Kindle device if you wish/ © Google

In order for this to work, you will need to have your Kindle Fire rooted.

1. First you need to download the ES File explorer from the Amazon App store. This will allow you to launch and transfer the files you require for this process.
2. Download the Google Play files from here and extract the compressed files.
3. In ES File Explorer, enable “root explorer” by simply going into your settings and choosing “root settings” and checking “super user”, “root explorer” and “mount file system” options.
4. Return on the actual folder where you extracted the Google Play store files and then install the Google Services Framework apk file. Reboot your Kindle after doing this.
5. Once the reboot is done, cut the vending.apk file and then paste it into the system/appdirectory.
6. Tap and hold on the vending.apk file once it has been moved and choose properties. You will need to change the permissions of the file by making sure that “read”, “write” are checked for “user” and “read” is checked for group and other.
7. Install the vending.apk on your device after doing this.
8. Finally, you want to return to the folder where you extracted the files and install the gplay.apk file then reboot your Kindle.
9. You will now be able to enjoy the Google Play store on your Kindle Fire device.

Have you tried this process out on your Kindle device? Please leave us a comment below to tell us how it went for you.

Source: Android Guys

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Amazon Acquires Digital Comic Book Store Comixology

Amazon has just announced that they will acquire comiXology, a service that offers digital versions of comics from Marvel, DC, and many others.

If you’ve never used it, it’s probably easiest to think of comiXology as a sort of iTunes/Kindle Store for comic books. You buy a comic through their online store, then read it either on the web or through the company’s iOS/Android apps.

To date, Comixology offers upwards of 50,000 comics for sale. In 2013, the company launched a self-publishing platform for comics that allows comic creators to upload and sell their own work — a strategy which fits hand-in-hand with Amazon’s own self-publishing efforts for books.

Last year, the comiXology iOS app was one of the App Store’s top performing, by gross sales. In fact, it was one of just two non-games to find itself in Apple’s Top 20 Grossing for 2013.

The news is confirmed by a post from comiXology CEO David Steinberger, who says that the company will retain its brand, living on as a subsidiary of Amazon.

Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed…

Study Finds Download Volume May Impact App Store Search Results

New research released today from mobile app marketer Fiksu examines the impact that download volume has on search results in the iTunes App Store.

Today, the App Store has over a million applications available, which means, more than ever, app discovery is being fueled by search as opposed to lists and top charts. Developers now need to know not only how to increase their App Store ranking, but also their search result position, so that their apps are returned first when users type in a query referencing a particular keyword or phrase.

Search results are generally understood to be calculated by three key metrics: the company name, an app’s title, and the 100-character meta-keywords provided within iTunes Connect by the app’s publisher. But Fiksu says it found that download volume, as measured by Category rankings, appears to also have a strong impact on search results ranking.

App Store search today still leaves a lot of room for improvement. The results sometimes fail to showcase the better-known, more recently buzzed about apps in the top results (as when Facebook Paper first launched), while other times results for nearly identical phrases are mind-bogglingly different.

Fiksu wanted to figure how if “popularity” as determined by download volume was having any impact on search results, so it began testing App Store search following the removal of the viral hit Flappy Bird from iTunes. Every day after Flappy Bird’s disappearance, Fiksu ran a search for the phrase “flappy bird” and then matched the results to the app’s then-current overall chart rankings. These chart rankings are based on recent download volume, among other things.

When averaged out, the data indicated, not all that surprisingly, that search result rank and overall rank were closely related. That is, the No. 1 search result would also have the highest overall rank (usually No. 1 overall), and the others were ordered by descending overall rank. In other words, Apple gives apps a bump in search when their recent download volume increases, it seems.

However, there’s still some sort of secret sauce that hasn’t been quite figured out because, while the above data is based on averages, there were occasionally instances where a No. 5 search result would be the No. 1 or No. 2 app in the store, or when a No. 1 overall rank wasn’t the top search result.

Fiksu looked to see if an app’s average rating was having an impact, but those results were inconclusive. (The apps all had similar ratings, though – 3.50-4.50 – so that could have been an issue).

In addition, the company noticed that search ranks were more volatile than the charts, with 22 apps showing up in the top 10 search results over the course of the two weeks. In order to make sure that the volatility wasn’t just a “Flappy Bird” thing, so to speak, the company also ran searches for the term “game” and found a similar pattern.

While these initial experiments seem to indicate there’s at least a correlation between download volume and search ranking, they can’t definitively prove that the algorithm works this way, especially as it’s still unclear how much weight other factors carry, like the app’s name, keywords, or metrics like historical downloads or average ratings.*

What can be said for sure, however, is that an app’s search position will matter more as the store grows in size, and as queries become increasingly sophisticated thanks to recent App Store improvements, like the newly added related search suggestions, for example, and other changes yet to come.

* Update: Ian Sefferman, CEO at MobileDevHQ, says he has found a high correlation between the percentage of the reviews which include a keyword and search rankings, as well as a high correlation between average rating and search rankings:

Google patents a way to flag pirated Play Store apps

App piracy and app cloning is a real problem on Android. Searching for just about any popular app in the Play Store reveals dozens of apps that are clearly designed to confuse users into downloading them, even if they have nothing to do with the real thing.

Google has explicit policies against misleading or trademark-infringing apps, but with over a million apps in the Store and no human review process for each upload, shady apps constantly sneak in. The company currently relies on user feedback for flagging bad apps, but a newly granted patent gives us hope that a better solution could be coming in the future.

The patent, first filed in July 2013 and awarded last week, describes an algorithm that compares the assets of a submitted app (code, images, audio, data files) with those of “authorized” apps that were uploaded by established developers. For instance, a legitimate app that was modified to include malware would fail this test. The same would happen with apps that are simply re-named clones of other apps submitted as original work.

It’s not clear whether this algorithm will be able to identify loose similitudes between apps or will just flag assets that are obviously copied. The patent mentions a way to identify open source code, so apps based on it would pass the test. Also worth noting is that filing for a patent is no guarantee that the invention will ever make it into a real product.

It’s likely that the filtering system will be a part of the suite of tests that Google runs on new apps. For instance, Google currently checks for malware and for illicit mentions of other applications in the description, and probably runs other undisclosed tests as well.

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Google adds your activity summary to the web-based Play Store

Kris Carlon 2014-04-02T08:30:00Z1 day ago

Kris Carlon

Putting down roots in Berlin after six years of traveling is a major step for Kris Carlon, who has spent more time living out of a tent lately than sitting at a desk. Kris comes to the AndroidPIT Editorial Team via a lengthy period spent writing on art and culture in Australia and other places he has lived. He joined the Android community while resurfacing in civilization back in 2010 and has never looked back, using technology to replace his actual presence in other people's lives ever since.

The web-based version of the Google Play Store just scored itself the same activity overview you'd already be familiar with from the most recent Play Store app update. Basically, you'll get a summary of all the shared activity you've engaged in, including all of your ratings and +1's.  

Fancy yourself a bit of an app expert? Google Play gives you an overview of your activity. / © AndroidPIT

Because it's publicly shared Play Store activity, you can not only peruse your own activity in one convenient place, but you can also check out what others have been doing. This is a great tool if you have a particularly tech savvy friend and you can't be bothered to actually talk to them about what apps have been keeping them awake at night.

You'd already be familiar with your Shared Activity on the app version of the Google Play Store. / © AndroidPIT

If you consider yourself a bit of an app expert, this is a great way to keep track of everything you've been rating and +1ing. So if there's anything you've somehow missed passing judgment on, you can quickly and easily see it and get your feedback loop closed pronto. 

Do you rate apps in the Play Store? Do you use others' ratings and +1's to choose apps?

Via: Android Police Source: Google Play

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Twitter #Music To Be Pulled From App Store Today, Will Shut Down Completely On April 18

Twitter just announced that it will be removing its #Music app from the App Store “later this afternoon.” For those who have already downloaded it, the app will stop working on April 18.

#Music’s disappearance is no surprise. After a high-profile launch early last year, the app’s popularity waned, and by the fall it was regarded as a failure, with both AllThingsD and The New York Times reporting on its likely demise.

With the app, Twitter aimed to highlight music that was trending on the service. In hindsight, however, it suffered from being a largely passive consumption experience, and from its isolation from the context of Twitter’s broader conversations.

Plus, if you ask me, the hashtag in the name always looked pretty silly.

While the #Music app is being shut down, Twitter says it will “continue to experiment with new ways to bring you great content based on the music activity we see every day on Twitter.”