Android app from China executed 0-day exploit on millions of devices
Chinese apps, even those from big established players, are often indistinguishable from malware. Off the top of my head, I can think of:<p>- Hiding their app icon from launcher, but add a widget that looks the same. So if the user tries to uninstall the app, they just deleted the widget and the app remains.<p>- One app would install other apps from the same company in the background without user consent.<p>- Multiple apps will wake each other so they always stay in the background and become impossible to kill<p>- Requesting every permission under the sun and transmit as much info to the mothership as possible<p>- Secretly turning on the camera and film their users<p>However, these only happen on Android version. iOS version never have these issues.<p>So even though I am not a fan of the Apple monopoly, I am really really afraid that by allowing third party app stores and sideloading, the western apps will race to the bottom and become just like this.<p>(&quot;But you can always download from the official App Store!&quot; you may say. But what if, say, Tik Tok announces they will from now on leave the App Store and available only via direct download?)