Google Can Remotely Remove Apps From Your Phone
Even if I’ve been following Android’s development since the earlier parts of 2008, I’d never known that Google has the functionality to remotely remove any application from your device that they deem necessary. There’s a reason we don’t hear about this: they don’t do it often, and when they do, it’s usually for a very good reason.
Recently, they had to remove an application from the market that was practically useless as the app was being misrepresented in order to get people to download it, but the app didn’t actually do anything. Most users uninstalled the application naturally, but Google decided to do a little clean sweep of their own and get the applications off of the small amount of devices that had yet to uninstall it.
It’s a bit scary, if you think about it. Even if Google’s only planning to use the feature in the case of an emergency or extreme security risks, it’s kind of unsettling to know that they have that kind of power. Still, we trust they won’t be messing up their reputation of being open and honest, so I’m sure no one has anything to worry about.
[via Android Developers]