Google Play Store may be bringing Incognito Mode, warning for sideloading apps

If you like discovering and installing new apps every once in a while to make your life easier or to entertain you, then the Google Play Store is one of the most important services you have on your phone. But it can also sometimes be the source of a lot of privacy and security threats. Google is apparently looking into improving these aspects of your experience in the Play Store. Experts spotted that they are working on bringing an Incognito Mode and a warning about apps that may possibly install unknown apps on your device.

If you don’t want Google Play Store to track what apps you’re looking at and to store your data for that particular session, they may be introducing a new Incognito Mode. This is part of the company’s efforts to give users more control over the data that they share across Google products. While having your data saved can help Google understand what to recommend to you later on, there are times when you just don’t want them to have access to that so this optional mode will be of great help for those moments.

The folks over at XDA Developers also spotted another string that would help in spotting apps that sometimes secretly install other apps to your device without your explicit permission. They are working on a warning or reminder for users to revoke sideloading permission from other apps that they may have installed outside the Google Play Store. While some of these apps are legit, there are still those who would “silently and maliciously” misuse the permission.

Why would you need to side load apps in the first place? There are those apps and games that you download directly from the developer (like Fortnite) and you need to grant them permissions to side load the APK. After installing, you are reminded to revoke the permission but sometimes users forget about this. What Google seems to be developing is a warning system not about side loading but more on app installation permissions.

For now, these are all just strings that XDA Developers spotted but as soon as Google makes any update or announcement, we’ll let you know. But for now, just make sure you’re extra careful when you’re installing apps outside of and even within Google Play Store.