How To Protect Your Android Phone From Harmful Apps

The Google Play store for Android apps store has been dealing with a few sketchy programs lately, like the recent flashlight app that was caught selling personal user data without permission.

But Google has a nifty feature that can help protect your Android phone with a feature called Verify Apps. This tool can prevent you from downloading dangerous apps from Google Play and other sources. It also continuously scans your device for harmful apps.

Here's how it works:

The settings to activate this feature will vary based on your Android software.

If you are using something lower than Android 4.2, go to the settings menu and navigate to Google Settings > Verify App. Go to Settings > Security > Verify apps if you are running Android 4.2 or higher.

The program can work two ways.

If you decide to download an app from an unknown source, Google will give you a warning that this could be dangerous. It recommends that you shouldn't install the app, but you can choose to ignore this warning at the bottom.

If the program is too dangerous, Google can automatically block the app from being installed.

Unfortunately, a few apps can slip through the cracks. Verify Apps continuously scans your device for dangerous programs. This warning should appear if there is an app on your phone or tablet containing malware that Verify couldn't detect upon installation.

If you keep ignoring the warnings, Google will automatically remove the app from your device.