Google play apps that were malicious?

[larry1076]

Did it ever happen where apps on Google play were found to be spying or doing other malicious activities?

 

[nahoku]

The short answer is yes. There have been many instances where apps on Playstore were removed due to what you're asking about. In fact, there is a recent post on this site about Flash Keyboard serving malicious ads and data farming. Seems like spyware to me. Google attempts to keep Playstore safe, but things do get through.

 

[VigneshB]

They are generally the safest way to install apps on an Android device. Though as nahoku has stated, there have been instances of it serving up malicious apps, but they are few and far between.
Sticking to known and trustworthy developers, checking the permissions before installing an app would help to a certain extent.
Google themselves serving malicious apps seems quite far-fetched, and highly improbable.

 

[kramer5150]

IMHO, any app that asks for more permissions than it really needs is questionable.
Scrub through app permissions and turn off any of them that are not needed.