Google appears to have quietly rolled out a feature to the Play Store that allows users to remotely uninstall apps from other devices.

  • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I know it’s sometimes informative, but I really hate the popularity of “$x quietly does $y” in headlines.

    You want Google to run ads on TV or something? It’s a tiny feature.

    • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Agreed, it’s such a clickbaity tactic - makes it sound like they’re revealing some dark secret Google wanted kept hidden, when in fact it sounds like a small but useful change to improve customer experience, but not something that they would make a big deal out of.

      • fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        Yeah. The title actually made me think they had rolled out the ability for Google to remove an app from my phone when it’s been removed from the Play Store.

        • Chewy@discuss.tchncs.de
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          5 months ago

          Google has always been able to remove installed apps remotely, although I believe they only use it for malicious apps, not for apps that simply get removed from the Play Store.

          But I’ve also been mislead by the headline.

          Clickbait makes me appreciate my preferred small tech news outlet, which has been doing serious journalism without sensationalism for over 25 years. The authors even interact in their forum, which is still active because of how the site actually cares about the community.

          My mental list of sites I try to avoid is longer than the list of actually good sites. Sadly those thrash sites get pushed up in rankings of Google News and similar aggregators because clickbait clicks well.

    • SqueakyBeaver@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      5 months ago

      It’s probably more to mean they didn’t make a blog post or a popup dialog or something

      But yeah a lot of media headlines and wording tends to make things as sensationalized as possible bc clicks or smth

  • unreasonabro@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    is this so app makers can delete their apps on my phone when they go under or get pulled or decide to rob everyone?

    • terabytes@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      I don’t think you even read the summary in the OP that describes exactly what this feature does. This is a feature for users for their owned devices. You can remotely install apps already. Now you can do the opposite.

    • kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      Its for users to uninstall apps they installed.

      Google has always had the ability to remote uninstall apps in the Play Store services since day 1.

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    They’ve had this ability for years, to remove copromosed apps from devices, they’re just giving it to users now.

      • jet@hackertalks.com
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        5 months ago

        Sure, a stalker installed a tracking or monitoring app on your phone, and later they remove it silently after they have what they want, making it harder for victims to know they were being monitored

        • Fushuan [he/him]@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          That stalker had to have access to your google account to do so, you are utterly fucked if that’s the case by that point. Like, why would they need to install a tracking app, when the google findmyphone feature just gives them the info. Anything that the phone stores that isn’t recorded by google pales in comparison to what they have access to with your account.

          That’s like saying that you are saving money by buying a kilo of salt that lasts a year, 50 cents cheaper. Yeah you technically saved money but it’s so irrelevant in the grand scheme of things that you shouldn’t even consider it.

          • Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 months ago

            Also, Android shows a notification when you install an app remotely. So you’d instantly know something’s up anyway.