Google reacts to its app flagging in Huawei devices

Google has reacted to the entire controversy and the flagging of its all-in-one Google search app in Huawei smartphones. The latest response comes amid Huawei phones showing the Google app as risky malware and some speculated that the malware notification is triggered by Google Play Protect.

A Google spokesperson told BleepingComputer that the security notification on Huawei phones was not triggered by Google Play Protect. According to Google, Play Protect automatically scans all of the apps on Android phones and prevents the installation of harmful apps. Play Protect also informs about any suspicious behavior of an installed app.

The spokesperson mentioned that the notification appeared from a device that is not Play Protect certified. However, we found this line of the statement quite incorrect as all of the users reporting this issue had Google-certified Huawei devices.

Because the majority of these phones launched before 2019, the year, Huawei stopped receiving Google Play Protect certificates for upcoming smartphones. Therefore smartphones such as – Huawei P30 Pro, P20 series, P10 series, Mate 20 series, and Mate 10 series were all Google-certified devices. Google said that the issue may have appeared after, the user didn’t download the Google app from the Play Store, which is a highly agreeable point.

“We recommend contacting the device manufacturer for further information. Google Play is the only app store where you can officially download Google’s core apps for Android.” added the spokesperson.

Avast:

Amid this response, the situation is entirely different and Google has nothing to do in this matter. Instead, Avast claimed responsibility for the entire scenario that occurred earlier this week.

In a press release, Avast confirmed that its SDK for Android smartphones had triggered the warning by mistake and it has patched the issue, which majorly affected Huawei users. Avast is used in Huawei’s bloatware app called – Optimizer and has a device malware-scanning feature.