By Devesh Beri
Publication Date: 2026-02-24 12:00:00
Google has shared new data on how it kept Google Play and the wider Android app ecosystem safe in 2025. Despite bad actors increasingly using AI to refine their tactics, the company says it stopped more than 1.75 million policy‑violating apps from being published on Google Play and banned over 80,000 developer accounts that tried to push harmful apps.
The blog post reveals that stricter developer verification, mandatory pre‑review checks, and tighter testing requirements have made it harder for bad actors to get in and easier for honest developers to build compliant apps.
Google says apps on Play now undergo more than 10,000 safety checks before publishing and receive ongoing scans after they go live. In 2025, Google says its systems blocked over 255,000 apps from getting excessive access to sensitive data, supported by Play Policy Insights in Android Studio and the Data Safety section.
Its anti‑spam systems also blocked 160 million spam ratings and reviews and…
