Google Play Protect was pretty much a rebrand of security features that had long been part of the core of Android. It seems that now these rebranded changes are finally rolling out to the front end of the Google Play Store.
Google Play Protect aims to scan your installed apps and pending updates to ensure that there is no malicious code embedded in the app. By doing so it inherently keeps your Android device safer by blocking any app that could be considered harmful.
You’ll now notice a new box in the Updates section of the My Apps and Games page that allows you to manually scan your apps for problems. There’s also a badge labeled “Verified by Play Protect” that has begun appearing for some on the Play Store listings for apps themselves.
Backed by the strength of Google, Play Protect brings control to your fingertips while giving guidance along the way. Together, we lay out the ideal security blanket for your mobile device. Consider yourself covered.
There’s also a Play Protect button that seems to be showing up for some in the hamburger menu that will take you to the settings page for Protect. From here you can see a page that displays all the recently scanned apps and also toggles that let you disable devices scanning and the sending of unknown apps to Google for better detection.
Many users on Reddit are seeing the Google Play Protect feature rolling out so expect to see hit a device near you soon as it gradually gets activated on the Google servers.
