The Members Forum

Dear Sirs,
I remember reading about some sketchy wallpaper apps, along with other concerns about security in Android's somewhat Wild-West style app Market. How can I keep my phone (and myself) safe from bad apps in the Market and elsewhere?

Sincerely,
Deliberate Droid Owner

Dear Deliberate,
Valid question, and one for which we can provide some guidance, if not a completely fail-proof solution.

While no platform is completely immune to security flaws and overly zealous data collection (even the more carefully curated iPhone App Store has had its problems), Android's fairly wide-open Market, and the so-detailed-they're-overwhelming permissions requests from apps, make it harder to be certain about the good nature of some apps. So let's run through a few ways to keep yourself safe when you're downloading apps on your Android.

Yeah, we know—nobody wants to read the instruction manual when they get a brand new toy. But if you're venturing out into the Market and grabbing apps to fill a particular need, and these apps come from developers you don't know otherwise, you should take a second look before clicking Install.

One of the most reliable litmus tests for whether an app is a goodwill gesture or serious production from a determined developer, or just cruftware, is to scroll down to the "About the developer" section after first selecting an app in the Market, then hit "View more applications." Look through the apps this person or team has put out. Do they seem mainly like clones of each other—ringtones, wallpapers, theming packages, sports-based widgets? If it looks like the developer doesn't have much breadth or depth in their efforts, you might not want to jump in, even at the cost of free. You won't necessarily get hit with spyware or viruses, but you'll likely find pop-up requests, a tricky definition of "free," and other disappointments.

Lifehacker has the details HERE!