Google won’t allow apps to be updated behind the official storefront

Apr 26, 2013 11:13 GMT  ·  By

Internet giant Google has just announced a new security enhancement for its Google Play Store, as it is now banning all Android apps that try to update themselves behind its back.

Basically, the company wants to make sure that all the software available for download through the storefront will be modified only via the official channels, so that the updates are being verified.

As The Verge notes, Google previously banned all apps that downloaded and installed additional apps without users’ knowledge, but it has added a new rule to that.

"An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play's update mechanism," the company explains in the Google Play Developer Program Policies.

Recently, Facebook was found to be updating without using the official Google Play store mechanisms, and Google’s move was supposedly determined by this.