Google removes 29 malicious Android apps with adware from Play Store; check full list and uninstall them now

Google has removed as many as 29 “malicious” apps laced with adware from the Google Play store. Until now, these apps could not be detected because of the out-of-context (OOC) ads. The fact that these apps kept disappearing from the users’ phones after they installed it also helped them to sustain for a longer time on phones.

The names of the 29 apps that have been removed by Google now are Auto Picture Cut, Color Call Flash, Square Photo Blur, Square Blur Photo, Magic Call Flash, Smart Blur Photo, Smart Photo Blur, Super Call Flash, Smart Call Flash, Blur Photo Editor, Blur Image, Easy Blur, Image Blur, Auto Photo Blur, Photo Blur, Photo Blur Master, Super Call Screen, Square Blur, Square Blur Master. Multiple versions of these many apps accounted for 29 apps that have been taken off from the Google Play Store.

The White Ops Satori Threat Intelligence and Analysis Team has published its findings on a blog where it disclosed that it was able to track a series of mobile apps that “showed suspiciously high volumes of ad traffic during their investigations into threat hunting. White Ops dubbed their investigation “CHARTREUSEBLUR,” because most of these apps were found to have the word ‘blur’ in them, as they were photo editing tools that allowed users to blur background or image sections.

In addition, all of these apps feature random developer names in this investigation, which are in common English. The ratings and reviews for these applications are also largely negative, with many users complaining about OOC ads. The Satori team continues to track the threat and is trying to find any potential modifications and features that may arise. The White Ops team recommends that users look for reviews and ratings in the app to assess whether the download is worth it or not.