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>("But you can always download from the official App Store!" 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?)