Google to ease sideload warnings with an option to pause Play Protect

Google announced and launched Play Protect, its shield against Android malware, back in 2017. The app not only scans for malware within sideloaded apps, it also consistently keeps track of official Play Store applications, ensuring malware masquerading as ‘safe’ apps can’t creep through.

In addition to scanning apps during download, the tool also scans them after the fact, complete with alerts about apps that might be able to access your personal information. All-in-all, the tool is a net positive that flagged over 13 million new apps outside Google Play last year alone.

Now, as part of a potential Play Protect update that honestly doesn’t make a lot of sense, Google might be looking at introducing a ‘Pause Play Protect’ setting.

The new option, spotted by Android Authority, appears when you try to disable the ‘Scan apps with Play Protect’ toggle in the Play Store. “Pause Play Protect instead?” reads the prompt, suggesting that “When paused, Play Protect will no longer scan apps available outside of Google Play for malware. Play Protect will automatically turn on again the next day.” But why would you need to disable Play Protect in the first place? I could see this being useful when you want to knowingly download malware — but why would you want to do that?

For reference, in addition to scanning apps, Play Protect also pushes warnings when sideloading apps, regardless of permissions. Users have the option to acknowledge the warning and proceed with their download. However, acknowledging each warning can be a tedious and repetitive process when mass sideloading apps at once — during a new device setup, for example.

That is the only situation where ‘pausing’ Play Protect might be a viable option, essentially to minimize the nagging associated with sideloading. The fact that the malware shield automatically goes up the very next day is an added boon, ensuring forgetful users don’t stay unprotected for extended durations.

We’re not seeing the new option with the latest Play Store build on several devices, suggesting that the option to pause Play Protect might be in A/B testing or part of a phased rollout.