Last week I talked in detail about why I don’t download software from the Internet in principle. One of the first to react to that material was the author Android of Insider.ru and Hi-News.ru Artyom Sutyagin, who reasonably noted that even Google Play can fall under the definition of 'from the Internet', since for connecting to it requires access to the Net. I told him something about the fact that in the popular perception, 'from the Internet' is from anywhere other than Google Play. And then I thought that in addition to the official Google directory, there are also unofficial ones in the world, which are also better not to use for your own safety.
Aptoide is an alternative app store that leaks your data
The data of more than 20 million users of an alternative app store for Android called Aptoide has been made public. In addition to personal data, login emails and hashed passwords were also leaked onto the Web. How this happened is difficult to say, but given that the leak also affects e-mail, most likely, in this case, we are talking about the exploitation of a critical vulnerability in the Aptoide system, which allowed access to all data at once, and not a point hacking of individual users .
Alternative app stores
There are many directories, but you should use only one – Google Play
The big problem with third party app stores is that they can install on Android and work similar to Google Play. That is, unlike aggregator sites, they do not allow downloading the installation files separately, but immediately install the software requested by the user into the device memory. Aptoide, Galaxy Store, Amazon App Store, and all the others operate on this principle. But if the App Store is responsible for Amazon, and Samsung is responsible for the Galaxy Store, then there is no one to ask for Aptoide, F-Droid and other catalogs. No, they have owners, only they are completely non-public, and therefore their authority is unlikely to be damaged in the event of a scandal.
Using unofficial app stores is like driving a car without insurance. In fact, you can do this at your own peril and risk, but if something goes wrong, you will have nowhere to wait for help. The attractiveness of such directories, as a rule, lies in the fact that they offer access to applications that are not on Google Play, since the developers are not bound by any rules, but Google came up with these rules in order to ensure the safety of ordinary users and their devices. Therefore, before downloading something from an unofficial store, think 10 times, because it can be really dangerous.
Why you need to download software only from Google Play
Google Play is the most secure app directory of all. At least applied to Android
Google Play, although imperfect, but, firstly, has a huge range of available software, and, secondly, it has quite effective protection. In any case, the data of its users, their passwords and emails with buttons to log into their accounts, Google has never leaked to the Web. On the contrary, in the event of some twists and turns, the security algorithms and mechanisms of the search giant always stood up to protect users, resetting passwords and notifying about unauthorized entry.
For my part, I can say that I have not yet met a single normal unofficial application directory. All the stores I came across invariably lagged behind Google Play, at least in terms of assortment, at least in terms of security, even in convenience. After all, they will either offer hacked software, or their assortment will be so narrow that an ordinary user will have nothing to catch there. Even AppGallery from Huawei and Samsung's Galaxy Store cannot compete with the official Google app store. Needless to say about third-party sites that do not have even close funding that Google Play and branded directories of smartphone manufacturers have.