To protect Android users data, Google has reportedly blocked Xiaomi’s ‘Quick apps’ applications. Google has blocked the app as per its Play Protect policy. Xiaomi’s Android phones come with heavy UI customizations and many pre-installed apps featuring advertisements no one asked for.
Some of the Xiaomi users have reported on Reddit and Twitter that they received a pop-up from Play Protect saying, this Quick App can collect data that could be used to track you. The message appeared when these users tried to update the app via system app updater. Google seems to have blocked the “Quick App” because of potential tracking issues.
It’s unclear why exactly Quick apps has been marked as a data tracker just now. Notably, the app isn’t available in the Play Store and is instead distributed on Xiaomi’s own platform, Play Protect still scans all apps installed on any Play Services-equipped phone for malware.
Google Play protect helps you keep your devices safe and secure. It runs a safety check on apps from the Google Play Store before you download them. It checks your devices for potentially harmful apps from other sources. These harmful apps are sometimes known as malware.
A report from this year states that the application has extensive access to more than 55 permissions that allow it to collect almost any data you could think of. Among other information, the app has access to phone permission, IMEI numbers, SIM numbers, tower detail numbers, user credentials, and can record audio and video. It saves any information it gathers to temporary storage on the phone and uploads it to online endpoints later.
