Tag Archives: Google Play

Technology

Vampire Survivors Dev Talks Clones And Predatory Monetization

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Image: poncle

When Steam best seller Vampire Survivors made the surprise jump to mobile last month, it wasn’t just as compulsively playable as its PC and console counterparts, it was also free. And unobtrusively so. In a sea of aggressively monetized and sometimes downright exploitative smartphone games, it stood out all the more. Developer Poncle now explains that the crappy app marketplace is the reason Vampire Survivors’ free port exists in the first place.

Vampire Survivors was itself inspired by a 2021 Android game called Magical Survival, but its explosion in popularity on Steam early last year led to its own clones on the App and Google Play stores as players searched for a game that didn’t yet exist on the platforms. “Months passed by and a large number of actual clones—not ‘games like Vampire Survivors,’ but actual 1:1 copies with stolen code, assets, data, progression—started to appear everywhere,” Poncle recently wrote in an end of 2022 update on the game’s Steam page (via PC Gamer). “This forced our hand to release the mobile game ASAP, and put a lot of stress on the dev team that wasn’t even supposed to worry about mobile in the first place.”

The developer said they tried to look for a business partner to work with them on a mobile version of the game, but nobody they spoke to was on board with “non-predatory” monetization. The biggest App and Google Play store games are all free, but most still collect their pound of flesh one way or another. Many gate progression unless you wait a certain period of time or pay, while others monetize gameplay benefits aimed at milking repeat customers lovingly referred to as “whales.” A few operate like thinly veiled slot machines. Vampire Survivors doesn’t use any of that. Instead it relies on completely optional ads.

Read More: 5 Beginner Vampire Survivors Tips To Easily Slay The Gothic Roguelite

The hit bullet hell roguelike has you fighting ever growing hordes of monsters while you collect upgrades. Every game ends at 30 minutes no matter what, but the better the playthrough, the more gold players earn to unlock permanent upgrades and features you get. The free mobile version of Vampire Survivors capitalizes on this in two ways. On a particularly long run, you can “cheat” and get a second life if you watch an ad. And once you die, you can watch a second ad if you want to retain more of your gold. The completely optional tradeoff makes the excellent mobile version even better.

“If you’re like me [and] wanted VS on mobile, you’d have been happy to just pay a couple of bucks for it and call it a day; but the mobile market doesn’t work like that and by making VS a paid app I’d have cut out completely a lot of new players from even trying the game,” Poncle wrote. “This is why we ended up with a free-for-real approach, where monetization is minimal and is designed to never interrupt your game, always be optional and in your control trough a couple of ‘watch ads’ buttons, and doesn’t have any of that real money sinks that mobile cashgrabs are usually designed around.”

The developer says the experiment so far has been a success, with high user reviews and lots of new players coming in through word of mouth. The only thing now is to figure out how to introduce the Legacy of Moonspell DLC which costs $2 on PC.

“The problems we’re facing are the same mentioned above: how do we make it fair, but also accessible to players who are only into free games,” Poncle wrote. “We’ll figure something out and publish the DLC asap!”

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Technology

You Can Finally Listen to YouTube Music on Wear OS

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YouTube Music for Wear OS is finally getting a tile!
Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo

Good news for YouTube Music listeners! A compatible app for Wear OS is finally available so that you can take your playlists with you on the go.

Google announced in a user community post that YouTube Music is finally a standalone app. This week, the company will start rolling out the ability to stream YouTube Music over LTE and wifi. You’ll no longer need to carry your phone in your back pocket to access your YouTube Music playlists or pre-download the music you want to listen to out on the trail. All you’ll need is an internet connection on the watch itself.

This standalone version of YouTube Music is the first smartwatch app for the streaming service after it brutally replaced Google Play Music in late 2020. Samsung had pre-announced this ability earlier this year for its flagship smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 4, which is one of our favorite Android-based watches at the moment.

If you’re a YouTube Music Premium subscriber, you’ll have access to all of the service’s streaming library, plus premade playlists. You won’t have to endure ads either, and the app comes with a Smart Downloads feature to ensure the newest music is synced to your watch any time it’s back on WiFi. YouTube Music will also start aggregating new playlists based on your history as you keep listening.

If you’re already on a Wear OS smartwatch, you’ll have access to the new YouTube Music tile. The tile is like a quick-launch remote for any recently played playlists. It’ll also allow you to browse the main page of the YouTube Music app from your watch.

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Tiles work like widgets, wherein you can place it in its own screen space of sorts to swipe over to it when you’re ready to listen. Music apps like Spotify offer a similar tile that stays embedded in the Wear OS interface, so you can head over and start the music regardless if you have headphones on.

For more information, Google has updated its support page with instructions on the new YouTube Music app for Wear OS. The update should roll out for YouTube Music users this week.

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Technology

Google Scrapped Enhanced ‘At a Glance’ Android Feature

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Image: Google

At a Glance on Android presents contextual information on a phone’s home and lock screens, so users can quickly view relevant details without sifting through apps. In its current state, At a Glance contains basic info like current weather conditions and calendar alerts, but it appears Google at one point had much more ambitious goals for the feature.

Google was apparently working to expand At a Glance to integrate more apps and services, and to have the feature adapt based on your location and the time of day. This revelation comes from Android Authority, citing unnamed “trusted sources” who provided screenshots showing an advanced At A Glance (codenamed Smartspace) home and lock screen widget. The feature presented users with a suggestion bubble that, when pressed, would reveal a full interface that dynamically changed based on what you were doing and the time of day.

Image: Android Authority

For example, pressing a “Good Night” icon on the lock screen would have pulled up info cards with smart home controls, alarms, and sleep and meditation sounds. If you were at the store, the At a Glance icon might say “At Whole Foods” and bring up your shopping list, loyalty card barcode, and Google Pay. Another screenshot shows how the feature would shape-shift at a train station to show the next arriving trains and the duration and stops to your destination. It could also pull up digital tickets you might have purchased on a transit app.

After connecting headphones, At a Glance would show a “media suggestions” tab with recommended songs, YouTube videos, podcasts, and people you could call on WhatsApp, Messenger, or the Phone app. These info cards are shown not just on the home screen, but the lock screen and always-on display when your phone is in sleep mode.

Had Google moved forward with these plans, or should it decide to revive them, At a Glance would make a leap toward its goal of preventing users from having to dig through apps or settings to find the information they need at the time they need it. According to Android Authority, the feature was not going to be a Pixel exclusive; Google had planned to share it with other Android phone makers.

Image: Android Authority

This enhanced At a Glance feature was apparently being worked on during the Android 11 development cycle but never made it past the prototyping stage. We don’t know why Google scrapped these plans, but some obvious technical hurdles needed resolving to pull this off. Having such detailed information on your lock screen or always-on display could compromise someone’s privacy and security should their phone end up in the wrong hands. An additional layer of biometric authentication (fingerprint scan or facial recognition) could have been added, but doing so would undermine the feature’s “at a glance” premise.

Then there is the question of pulling the right information from the proper sources. Google would have needed third-party apps to play nicely and pull up the right information at the right time for users. It’s easy to see how this integration could have gotten messy and led to public backlash.

Google reportedly abandoned this project, choosing instead to incorporate certain features in other services and products. However, we might see some of the features arrive at some point. 9to5Google recently uncovered additional At a Glance tools (at a store, Bedtime, etc.) within an update to the Android System Intelligence app. Some of these—bedtime, fitness, and timer—were added earlier this year, while others are expected to arrive soon. One of those is the “at a store” feature that was briefly shown in a teaser reel; it looks similar to the one in the abandoned project, though there is no guarantee it will arrive, and if it does, it will likely be limited to the home screen.

At a Glance plays a pivotal role in Google’s Material You design language, which was designed to be tailored to individual users and adapt to their needs and preferences. I’ve been using the feature on a Pixel 6 for the past few months and haven’t found it to be any more useful than a standard widget. Customization options are limited and turning off the feature doesn’t remove the date stuck on the top-left of the screen. We expect At a Glance to evolve in the years and months ahead, but it may never become what Google once envisioned.

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Google’s fight with Joker continues, another app ‘deleted’

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Here’s another ‘Joker warning’ for Android smartphone users. One of the most-persistent malware (type of virus) found in Android smartphones has been detected in another app that has been downloaded 500,000-plus times on Google Play Store. Research company Pradeo recently wrote in a blog post that a mobile application called Color Message infected with Joker malware is currently available for download on Google Play and was installed by more than half a million users.
Google has since removed the app. Android smartphone users need to note that Google removing the app from Google Play Store means that it will no longer be able to trap new users. However, the users who have already downloaded the app need to remove it on their own from their phones. Google removing it from Play Store does not mean that the app will go away from the 500,000-plus devices where it has been downloaded.
What is Color Message app
The Color Message app claims to offer users the ability to jazz up their messages with range of customisation options. “It makes texting easy, fun and beautiful. Customize the theme quickly. The Color Message application has unique technology that can help you personalize your default SMS messenger,” read the app’s description before it was removed by Google. Surprisingly, the app reportedly also had 1,800+ reviews with an average rating of four stars. There were also reviews that called the app scam app.
What exactly Joker malware do
Joker is one of the most troublesome Android malware. Categorized as Fleeceware app, it steal SMS messages, contact lists and device information, in addition to signing users up for premium service subscriptions without their knowleadge. It simulates clicks and can intercept SMSes, including users banking messages. In the last few years, the Joker malware has been found hiding in hundreds of apps. These apps are said to use several different methods to avoid detection, including standard and custom encryption.
In January 2020, Google published a long blog post where it detailed its three-year-old fight with Joker malare. Google first detected the Joker malware in the year 2017.



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Technology

10 of the Best Android Apps of 2021, According to Google

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Screenshot: Pokemon Unite

If you’re looking for a fun competitive multiplayer game on your Android phone, Pokémon Unite is a really good option for you. It pits two teams of five players each against one another, creating an addictive multiplayer experience. Google named this the best Android game of 2021, which is another reason to try it.

And while Pokémon Unite will obviously appeal to Pokémon fans, it’s worth playing even if you’re not into the franchise. You can have fun with it even if you don’t know anything about any of your characters. The game does have some matchmaking issues though, where you can sometimes be paired with super-strong players, and it sometimes suffers from server problems, too.

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How to Avoid Getting Caught by the Android ‘FlyTrap’ Malware

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Beware, Android users—a new trojan malware is infecting smartphones worldwide, stealing thousands of users’ personal data and compromising their Facebook accounts.

According to a recent report published by cybersecurity firm Zimperium’s zLab mobile security team, the new trojan, known as FlyTrap, has infected over 10,000 devices in at least 144 countries. Once active on a user’s device, it can collect personal information like:

  • Location data
  • IP addresses
  • Email addresses
  • Facebook IDs, cookies, login tokens, and more.

The hackers can then hijack the user’s Facebook account to send more phishing links to the user’s contacts via direct messages and posts, or send them links hiding other, even more dangerous malware.

The zLabs researchers traced FlyTrap back to a known malware group based in Vietnam that distributes the malware in multiple ways, including via apps the group created and published on the Google Play store and other third-party Android app stores.

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The hackers have also launch attacks using fake ads promising free Netflix codes, Google AdWords coupons, or even tickets to a soccer match. If a user engages with the ad, the app will ask them to log in with their Facebook account to claim the free offer—only for them to learn the “offer” has expired.

Note that these fake ads are not using fake login pages to phish someone’s account info. Instead, the ads scoop up the person’s Facebook data using Javascript injection, a method that works even though the legit Facebook login page—or the login page of any website, for that matter.

And that’s why FlyTrap is such a threat: it can quickly spread to multiple users through seemingly legitimate links and apps. While the malware is mostly being used to steal personal data at the moment, it could also be employed in more nefarious ways, such as to facilitate a large-scale ransomware deployment.

How to keep yourself safe from the FlyTrap trojan

Google has already removed the malicious apps from the Play Store in response to zLabs’ report, and the apps are no longer active on any devices that installed them. However, they may still be available through third-party websites. Unfortunately, none of the offending apps are directly named in Zimperium’s report.

The malicious ads are also still active in the wild, so Android users need to take care to keep their devices safe. Here are some quick tips:

  • Use anti-malware and anti-virus apps to scan new apps you want to install for known threats before you download them, which could help infected users find and remove malware.
  • Do not grant apps unnecessary permissions.
  • Do not download unknown apps, even from the Google Play Store, and thoroughly vet the apps you do install.
  • Do not click on unknown links, and beware of “too good to be true” offers and similar online scam techniques.
  • Do not hand over your Facebook account info to any person or third-party apps.
  • Only log into Facebook (and other social media) through the official app or website, and never when prompted by an ad, email, or unrelated app.

[ZDNet]

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Even Google Thinks Sideloading Apps on Android Is Horrible

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Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

So much is revealed when court documents are officially unsealed, and in the case of Epic Games’ antitrust complaint against Google, we now know that Google considered buying the Fortnite maker outright “squelch this threat.” Google also apparently attempted to convince Epic Games not to limit Fortnite to sideloading on Android devices, as doing so would lead to a poor user experience.

In the court filings, which you can download and peruse yourself, Epic cites an internal document where Google called Epic’s plans a “contagion” on its business. The company also alleges that “Google uses its size, influence, power, and money to push third parties into anticompetitive agreements that further entrench its monopolies.”

There is no public documentation indicating Google approached Epic with an offer to buy the gaming company, nor any clear timeline. Epic CEO Tim McSweeney tweeted in response to The Verge’s article on the matter that Google’s plan was “unbeknownst to us at the time.”

Epic also alleges that Google offered it a special deal to launch Fortnite in the Play Store. Though details remain sealed and redacted, the document then describes how senior Google Play managers approached Epic about its plans to limit Android users to sideloading the game.

One manager contacted Epic’s Vice President and Co-Founder to gauge Epic’s interest in a special deal and, among other things, discussed “the experience of getting Fortnite on Android” via direct downloading. The manager’s call notes state that she viewed direct downloading Fortnite as “frankly abysmal” and “an awful experience”, and that Epic should “worry that most will not go through the 15+ steps”.

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Elsewhere in the document, there are claims that Google had acknowledged sideloading applications “leads to a [po]or user experience,” since it takes Android users more steps than installing an app directly from an authenticated app store. A Google employee even ran through the “install friction” that makes direct downloading a “bad experience” for users.

Google’s bits to Epic reads like persuasion as to why it should play by the Play Store rules and distribute through it. There’s even mention of how sideloading would keep users from receiving consistent app updates that were necessary for the performance and security of the game, ultimately resulting in “significant user confusion.”

Epic Games is suing Apple and Google for removing Fortnite from both app stores after it was banned for using its own in-game payment system. But the case has become a part of a significant state antitrust lawsuit against Google, which argues that its general practices are anticompetitive. The sideloading piece is intriguing because the ability to install apps outside of official app stores is part of what makes Android more open than Apple’s platforms. But if Google is telling app developers that sideloading is awful and pushing them to offer apps in Google Play, well, that’s not exactly in the spirit of openness. For its part, Google denies the claims and maintains that its ecosystem is open to all developers wanting to distribute apps safely through its app stores.

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