Google Play Store quietly rolls out feature to uninstall apps remotely

GreenEngineering3475@lemmy.world to Android@lemmy.world – 152 points – Google Play Store quietly rolls out feature to uninstall apps remotely
androidauthority.com

Google appears to have quietly rolled out a feature to the Play Store that allows users to remotely uninstall apps from other devices.

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I know it's sometimes informative, but I really hate the popularity of "$x quietly does $y" in headlines.

You want Google to run ads on TV or something? It's a tiny feature.

Agreed, it's such a clickbaity tactic - makes it sound like they're revealing some dark secret Google wanted kept hidden, when in fact it sounds like a small but useful change to improve customer experience, but not something that they would make a big deal out of.

Yeah. The title actually made me think they had rolled out the ability for Google to remove an app from my phone when it's been removed from the Play Store.

Google has always been able to remove installed apps remotely, although I believe they only use it for malicious apps, not for apps that simply get removed from the Play Store.

But I've also been mislead by the headline.

Clickbait makes me appreciate my preferred small tech news outlet, which has been doing serious journalism without sensationalism for over 25 years. The authors even interact in their forum, which is still active because of how the site actually cares about the community.

My mental list of sites I try to avoid is longer than the list of actually good sites. Sadly those thrash sites get pushed up in rankings of Google News and similar aggregators because clickbait clicks well.

It's probably more to mean they didn't make a blog post or a popup dialog or something

But yeah a lot of media headlines and wording tends to make things as sensationalized as possible bc clicks or smth

Makes sense. You can install apps remotely. Why not uninstall?

is this so app makers can delete their apps on my phone when they go under or get pulled or decide to rob everyone?

I don't think you even read the summary in the OP that describes exactly what this feature does. This is a feature for users for their owned devices. You can remotely install apps already. Now you can do the opposite.

I thought the joke is that their real goal is to misuse it and they pretend it to be a feature.

oh good, i was starting to think everybody thought it was an actual question!

edit: lol, such hostility around here, y'all cute

Its for users to uninstall apps they installed.

Google has always had the ability to remote uninstall apps in the Play Store services since day 1.

They've had this ability for years, to remove copromosed apps from devices, they're just giving it to users now.

Joke's on you, Google! I uninstalled the Play store weeks ago!

A boon to stalkers everywhere

Care to elaborate ??? I don't see it, helping stalkers.

Sure, a stalker installed a tracking or monitoring app on your phone, and later they remove it silently after they have what they want, making it harder for victims to know they were being monitored

That stalker had to have access to your google account to do so, you are utterly fucked if that's the case by that point. Like, why would they need to install a tracking app, when the google findmyphone feature just gives them the info. Anything that the phone stores that isn't recorded by google pales in comparison to what they have access to with your account.

That's like saying that you are saving money by buying a kilo of salt that lasts a year, 50 cents cheaper. Yeah you technically saved money but it's so irrelevant in the grand scheme of things that you shouldn't even consider it.

Also, Android shows a notification when you install an app remotely. So you'd instantly know something's up anyway.