Chrome on Android will soon scan APK downloads for malware

After tweaking Play Protect to show fewer harmful warnings for APK downloads, Google is now testing a new feature behind a flag in Chrome Canary for Android to check APK downloads for malware.

The latest commit message reads: “[MaliciousApkDownloadCheck] Add feature and flag. Add a base::Feature to control malicious APK download checks. A base::FeatureParam<bool> controls whether the feature is in telemetry-only mode or displays warnings.”

You can also see the feature’s flag on the browser’s experimental channel, which reads, “Check the APK downloads on Android for malware. The Malicious APK downloads check.”

So, when you enable this flag, Chrome will scan the APK files you download on your Android device to see if they contain any known malware. If something suspicious is found, Chrome will warn you before you install the app.

For those with “telemetry-only” selected, as seen above, only users with Enhanced Protection will have their APK downloads checked without any warnings. This means Google will be collecting data about malicious downloads to improve the system before it’s fully rolled out to everyone.

When you download files from the internet, especially APK files (which are used to install Android apps), you always risk getting malware that can damage your phone or steal your information. So, in other words, this new feature prevents that risk.

All users with Safe Browsing enabled will likely have their APK downloads checked, and they’ll receive warnings if any potential malware is detected in the app.

That’s not all—Google will soon allow you to customize Chrome’s new tab page like never before. Other than that, Chrome on Android will let you ask Gemini and simplify pages from the toolbar.