Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) introduced the App Store Freedom Act [PDF] on Tuesday, legislation that would compel "large app store operators" with over 100 million US users to permit third-party app stores and allow them to be set as defaults. The bill directly challenges Apple's walled garden approach and Google's Play Store dominance by requiring both companies to allow developers to use alternative payment systems, bypassing the platforms' commission structures.

It would also mandate equal access to development tools and interfaces without discrimination, while giving users the ability to remove pre-installed apps. Violations would trigger FTC enforcement with penalties up to $1 million per infraction. The legislation mirrors recent European Union regulations that have already forced Apple to permit third-party app stores and allow users to change default apps.

Google Play's app marketplace has seen a dramatic 47% drop in available apps -- from 3.4 million to 1.8 million -- since the start of 2024. An analysis by app intelligence provider Appfigures attributes the decline to stricter quality standards, expanded human reviews, and increased enforcement against low-quality and deceptive apps. TechCrunch reports: In July 2024, Google announced it would raise the minimum quality requirements for apps, which may have impacted the number of available Play Store app listings.

Instead of only banning broken apps that crashed, wouldn't install, or run properly, the company said it would begin banning apps that demonstrated "limited functionality and content." That included static apps without app-specific features, such as text-only apps or PDF file apps. It also included apps that provided little content, like those that only offered a single wallpaper. Additionally, Google banned apps that were designed to do nothing or have no function, which may have been tests or other abandoned developer efforts.

Reached for comment, Google confirmed that its new policies were factors here, which also included an expanded set of verification requirements, required app testing for new personal developer accounts, and expanded human reviews to check for apps that try to deceive or defraud users. In addition, the company pointed to other 2024 investments in AI for threat detection, stronger privacy policies, improved developer tools, and more. As a result, Google prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being published on its Play Store and banned more than 158,000 developer accounts that had attempted to publish harmful apps, it said. TechCrunch also notes that a new trader status rule, which went into effect in the EU this February, could be another contributing factor. It requires developers to display their names and addresses in their app listings, and failure to comply would see their apps removed from EU app stores.

Brain rot — the inability to think deeply after too much scrolling on a phone — afflicts "plenty of people," writes the New York Times' lead consumer technology writer. [Alternate URL here.] He's suffering from it too — "These days, it's tough to even finish a book."

But is the answer just avoiding distractions with a stripped-down $600 phone "that barely does anything"? For a week he tested the Light Phone III... The newest version, which began shipping in March and is set for a broader release in July, can place calls, send texts, take photos, show map directions, play music and podcasts and not do much else. There is no web browser. There is also no app store, meaning there's no Uber to hail a ride, no Slack and no social media. There isn't even email... There were moments I enjoyed it. While waiting for a train, resting at the gym or eating alone, I was not tempted to stare at the phone screen, and I felt more mindful of my surroundings. Phone calls sounded nice and clear. The maps app did a fine job navigating me around town.

It reminded me of simpler times when we used phones primarily to converse before putting them away to focus on other tasks. But over the week, the downsides of a dumber phone chipped away at my enjoyment, and overall I felt more stressed and less capable. I suddenly found myself unable to get into a train station, look up the name of a new restaurant or control my garage door. Some of that has less to do with the Light Phone itself, which is a so-so product, and more to do with how society as a whole has become dependent on advanced smartphone features.
For example, his old smartphone supported virtual phone-based passes for mass transit and speedy access to his gym. (And his friends made phone of the Light Phone's photos.) But at least never felt tempted to check his email when out to dinner.

"While I admire the goal of the Light Phone, my experience demonstrates there's nothing we can realistically do or buy to bring us back to simpler times. So many aspects of our lives, including getting around town, working, paying for things and controlling home appliances, revolve around our highly capable smartphones.

"This Light Phone experiment reminded me of glamping: paying a lot to have an artificially crummier experience."

A joint investigation found that at least five popular VPN apps on the App Store and Google Play have ties to Qihoo 360, a Chinese company with military links. Apple has since removed two of the apps but has not confirmed the status of the remaining three, which 9to5Mac notes have "racked up more than a million downloads." The five apps in question are Turbo VPN, VPN Proxy Master, Thunder VPN, Snap VPN, and Signal Secure VPN (not associated with the Signal messaging app). The Financial Times reports: At least five free virtual private networks (VPNs) available through the US tech groups' app stores have links to Shanghai-listed Qihoo 360, according to a new report by research group Tech Transparency Project, as well as additional findings by the Financial Times. Qihoo, formally known as 360 Security Technology, was sanctioned by the US in 2020 for alleged Chinese military links. The US Department of Defense later added Qihoo to a list of Chinese military-affiliated companies [...] In recent recruitment listings, Guangzhou Lianchuang says its apps operate in more than 220 countries and that it has 10mn daily users. It is currently hiring for a position whose responsibilities include "monitoring and analyzing platform data." The right candidate will be "well-versed in American culture," the posting says.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has told employees that DeepSeek's R1 AI model has set "the new bar" for his company's AI ambitions, citing the startup's ability to reach the top of app store rankings. "What's most impressive about DeepSeek is that it's a great reminder of what 200 people can do when they come together with one thought and one play," The Verge cited Nadella as saying.

"Most importantly, not just leaving it there as a research project or an open source project, but to turn it into a product that was number one in the App Store. That's the new bar to me," he added. Microsoft quickly deployed DeepSeek's R1 on its Azure platform in January. The AI model gained recognition for its optimization below Nvidia's CUDA layer, enabling greater efficiency.

"Amazon has long allowed you to download its ebooks to your computer," notes PCMag.com, "where they can serve as a backup or be transferred to other devices.

"However, that feature will end on February 26, 2025, along with the ability to transfer books from your computer to your Kindle via USB." If you attempt to download your ebooks right now, a message says: "Starting February 26, 2025, the 'Download & Transfer via USB' option will no longer be available. You can still send Kindle books to your Wi-Fi-enabled devices by selecting the 'Deliver or Remove from Device' option." After February 26, you will still be able to download Kindle books [onto your Kindle] from the Kindle Store via Wi-Fi, and you can also use the Send to Kindle page on Amazon to send a variety of files to your Kindle.

Should you want to transfer your titles from your Kindle to your computer while you still can, go to Amazon.com, sign in, and click Accounts & Lists > Content Library > Books. Navigate to the book you want to download and click More actions > Download & transfer via USB.
Tom's Guide shares their reaction: Most people probably won't notice this latest example of an Amazon service getting worse, but the feature has existed for over a decade and is useful for backing up your purchases or converting them to formats compatible with other non-Kindle e-Readers or devices. It's also useful for those times when you don't have access to Wi-Fi, and of course, there's peace of mind knowing you have copies of your books... All in all it is a reminder that you don't actually own many or most of your digital purchases, as what you are typically actually "buying" are licenses to use content that can be revoked at any time.

If you find this decision annoying and want to find alternatives, here are a few. To start, might we recommend the Libby app which lets you borrow ebooks from your local library. You can also borrow audiobooks... You can also try purchasing books from places like Google Books and Apple Books, both of which offer a number of ebooks. eBooks.com offers DRM free books and EPUB formats. For those looking for free ebooks there is always Project Gutenberg which has over 75,000 free books largely those in the public domain though there are some more recent titles as well.

Amazon will discontinue its Android Appstore servicefrom August 20, 2025, ending its decade-long attempt to compete with Google's Play Store in the Android mobile ecosystem. The Amazon Appstore, launched in 2011, served as an alternative marketplace for Android users to download apps. The platform gained prominence in 2012 when Amazon began using it as the primary app store for its Kindle Fire tablets.

Murena has launched the Murena Pixel Tablet, a de-Googled version of the Pixel Tablet that removes Google's apps and services to enhance user privacy. Priced at $549, it offers /e/OS, an alternative app store, and privacy-focused productivity tools, but lacks Google's speaker dock and direct access to the Play Store. The Verge reports: First announced last December, the Murena Pixel Tablet is available now through the company's online store for $549. That's a steep premium given Google currently sells the same 128GB version of the Pixel Tablet for $399, or $479 as part of a bundle with the charging speaker dock that Murena isn't including. Part of Murena's de-Googling of the Pixel Tablet includes the removal of the Google Play Store. You can still download apps through /e/OS' App Lounge which acts as a front-end for the Play Store allowing you to browse and get free apps anonymously without Google knowing who you are. However, downloading paid apps requires a login to a Google account. Google's various productivity apps aren't included, but the Murena Pixel Tablet comes with privacy-minded alternatives for messaging, email, maps, browsing the web, calendar, contacts, notes, and even voice recordings. In 2022, Murena launched its first smartphone with no Google apps, Google Play Services, or even the Google Assistant.

Google has gained permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly to customers through its iOS app, Google Play Books. From a report: While iOS apps today can offer access to content previously purchased elsewhere, like e-books bought via a website, developers have to request a specific exception to link their iOS app's users to the company's own website to make purchases. According to a brief post on Google's blog, users will now be able to click on a new "Get book" button in the Google Play Books iOS app which will take them to the Google Play website to complete their e-book or audiobook purchase.

From there, users will be able to see their recently opened book listings and complete a purchase using their Google Account and saved payment information. By processing the transaction on its own website, Google can avoid paying Apple a commission (generally 30%) on in-app purchases of digital content.

Apple has released an official Apple TV app for Android phones and tablets that's now available in the Google Play Store. You can download it here. 9to5Google reports: The newest Apple app on Android has a bottom bar with Apple TV+, MLS (Major League Soccer), Downloads for offline viewing, and Search. [...] The video player takes after Apple TV on other platforms, with a portrait mode available. There are convenient shortcuts to activate picture-in-picture, which works inside the app (while browsing) and system-wide, and mute to bring up the system volume bar. Playback is smooth and more stable than other streaming services.

At launch, the Apple TV app lacks Casting support and there do not appear to be new episode notifications. If you're already signed into Apple Music, you have to log in again to Apple TV. Another notable aspect is support for Google Play Billing instead of requiring out-of-app sign-up on another device. This applies to both the Google TV app (and Apple Music) today.

With TikTok's U.S. ban temporarily paused, the company is encouraging Android users to sideload its app by downloading it directly from TikTok.com as an APK file, bypassing the Google Play Store. TechCrunch reports: The Android app download is being made available as an Android Package Kit, more commonly known as an APK file, which contains the app's code, assets, and other resources that TikTok needs to run. By offering a standalone download, TikTok can at least temporarily skirt the current app store ban, which still prevents both Google Play and Apple's App Store from hosting the app while the ban's enforcement remains paused.

I just saw an ad for TikTok on a YouTube video. But at the same time YouTube is running ads on TikTok, reports Bloomberg, targeting TikTok content creators in "an effort to lure these valuable users to the Google-owned rival and capitalize on TikTok's uncertain future."

One of YouTube's ads even received over a thousand likes, with Bloomberg calling it that TikTok "is willing to accept ad dollars from one of its fiercest competitors promoting a message aimed at undercutting its business." YouTube is the latest TikTok competitor to try to capitalize on the app's looming US ban, which could go into effect in early April. Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram announced a new video editing tool in January, and X also teased a new video tab as part of an effort to win over TikTok's content creators...

Google would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a ban in the US. Both its flagship video service YouTube and its TikTok copycat, YouTube Shorts, would likely see an uptick in traffic if TikTok goes away. Google also plays an unusual role in TikTok's potential ban because it runs one of two mobile app stores controlling whether people in the US can download the video app. It has blocked TikTok from its Google Play store since the divest-or-ban law went into effect January 19.

DeepSeek's AI app will highly likely face a US consumer ban after topping download charts on Apple's App Store and Google Play, according to analysts at US investment bank Jefferies. The US federal government, Navy and Texas have already banned the app, and analysts expect broader restrictions using legislation similar to that targeting TikTok.

While consumer access may be blocked, US developers could still be allowed to self-host DeepSeek's model to eliminate security risks, the analysts added. Even if completely banned, DeepSeek's impact on pushing down AI costs will persist as US companies work to replicate its technology, Jefferies said in a report this week reviewed by Slashdot.

The app's pricing advantage remains significant, with OpenAI's latest o3-mini model still costing 100% more than DeepSeek's R1 despite being 63% cheaper than o1-mini. The potential ban comes amid broader US-China tech tensions. While restrictions on H20 chips appear unlikely given their limited training capabilities, analysts expect the Biden administration's AI diffusion policies to remain largely intact under Trump, with some quota increases possible for overseas markets based on their AI activity levels.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, whose chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States, has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States, security researchers say. The web login page of DeepSeek's chatbot contains heavily obfuscated computer script that when deciphered shows connections to computer infrastructure owned by China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company. The code appears to be part of the account creation and user login process for DeepSeek.

In its privacy policy, DeepSeek acknowledged storing data on servers inside the People's Republic of China. But its chatbot appears more directly tied to the Chinese state than previously known through the link revealed by researchers to China Mobile. The U.S. has claimed there are close ties between China Mobile and the Chinese military as justification for placing limited sanctions on the company. [...] The code linking DeepSeek to one of China's leading mobile phone providers was first discovered by Feroot Security, a Canadian cybersecurity company, which shared its findings with The Associated Press. The AP took Feroot's findings to a second set of computer experts, who independently confirmed that China Mobile code is present. Neither Feroot nor the other researchers observed data transferred to China Mobile when testing logins in North America, but they could not rule out that data for some users was being transferred to the Chinese telecom.

The analysis only applies to the web version of DeepSeek. They did not analyze the mobile version, which remains one of the most downloaded pieces of software on both the Apple and the Google app stores. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission unanimously denied China Mobile authority to operate in the United States in 2019, citing "substantial" national security concerns about links between the company and the Chinese state. In 2021, the Biden administration also issued sanctions limiting the ability of Americans to invest in China Mobile after the Pentagon linked it to the Chinese military. "It's mindboggling that we are unknowingly allowing China to survey Americans and we're doing nothing about it," said Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of Feroot. "It's hard to believe that something like this was accidental. There are so many unusual things to this. You know that saying 'Where there's smoke, there's fire'? In this instance, there's a lot of smoke," Tsarynny said.

Further reading: Senator Hawley Proposes Jail Time For People Who Download DeepSeek

Kaspersky researchers have discovered malware hiding in both Google Play and Apple's App Store that uses optical character recognition to steal cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases from users' photo galleries. Dubbed "SparkCat" by security firm ESET, the malware was embedded in several messaging and food delivery apps, with the infected Google Play apps accumulating over 242,000 downloads combined.

This marks the first known instance of such OCR-based spyware making it into Apple's App Store. The malware, active since March 2024, masquerades as an analytics SDK called "Spark" and leverages Google's ML Kit library to scan users' photos for wallet recovery phrases in multiple languages. It requests gallery access under the guise of allowing users to attach images to support chat messages. When granted access, it searches for specific keywords related to crypto wallets and uploads matching images to attacker-controlled servers.

The researchers found both Android and iOS variants using similar techniques, with the iOS version being particularly notable as it circumvented Apple's typically stringent app review process. The malware's creators appear to be Chinese-speaking actors based on code comments and server error messages, though definitive attribution remains unclear.

Since November, British telecom O2 has deployed an AI chatbot masquerading as a 78-year-old grandmother to waste scammers' time. The bot, named Daisy, engages fraudsters by discussing knitting patterns, recipes, and asking about tea preferences while feigning computer illiteracy. The Guardian has an update this week: In tests over several weeks, Daisy has kept individual scammers occupied for up to 40 minutes, with one case showing her being passed between four different callers. An excerpt from the story: "When a third scammer tries to get her to download the Google Play Store, she replies: 'Dear, did you say pastry? I'm not really on the right page.' She then complains that her screen has gone blank, saying it has 'gone black like the night sky'."

Android and Google Play have billions of users, Google wrote in its security blog this week. "However, like any flourishing ecosystem, it also attracts its share of bad actors... That's why every year, we continue to invest in more ways to protect our community." Google's tactics include industry-wide alliances, stronger privacy policies, and "AI-powered threat detection."

"As a result, we prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being published on Google Play and banned more than 158,000 bad developer accounts that attempted to publish harmful apps. " To keep out bad actors, we have always used a combination of human security experts and the latest threat-detection technology. In 2024, we used Google's advanced AI to improve our systems' ability to proactively identify malware, enabling us to detect and block bad apps more effectively. It also helps us streamline review processes for developers with a proven track record of policy compliance. Today, over 92% of our human reviews for harmful apps are AI-assisted, allowing us to take quicker and more accurate action to help prevent harmful apps from becoming available on Google Play. That's enabled us to stop more bad apps than ever from reaching users through the Play Store, protecting users from harmful or malicious apps before they can cause any damage.
Starting in 2024 Google also "required apps to be more transparent about how they handle user information by launching new developer requirements and a new 'Data deletion' option for apps that support user accounts and data collection.... We're also constantly working to improve the safety of apps on Play at scale, such as with the Google Play SDK Index. This tool offers insights and data to help developers make more informed decisions about the safety of an SDK."

And once an app is installed, "Google Play Protect, Android's built-in security protection, helps to shield their Android device by continuously scanning for malicious app behavior." Google Play Protect automatically scans every app on Android devices with Google Play Services, no matter the download source. This built-in protection, enabled by default, provides crucial security against malware and unwanted software. Google Play Protect scans more than 200 billion apps daily and performs real-time scanning at the code-level on novel apps to combat emerging and hidden threats, like polymorphic malware. In 2024, Google Play Protect's real-time scanning identified more than 13 million new malicious apps from outside Google Play [based on Google Play Protect 2024 internal data]...

According to our research, more than 95 percent of app installations from major malware families that exploit sensitive permissions highly correlated to financial fraud came from Internet-sideloading sources like web browsers, messaging apps, or file managers. To help users stay protected when browsing the web, Chrome will now display a reminder notification to re-enable Google Play Protect if it has been turned off... Scammers may manipulate users into disabling Play Protect during calls to download malicious Internet-sideloaded apps. To prevent this, the Play Protect app scanning toggle is now temporarily disabled during phone or video calls...

Google Play Protect's enhanced fraud protection pilot analyzes and automatically blocks the installation of apps that may use sensitive permissions frequently abused for financial fraud when the user attempts to install the app from an Internet-sideloading source (web browsers, messaging apps, or file managers). Building on the success of our initial pilot in partnership with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), additional enhanced fraud protection pilots are now active in nine regions — Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In 2024, Google Play Protect's enhanced fraud protection pilots have shielded 10 million devices from over 36 million risky installation attempts, encompassing over 200,000 unique apps.

Epic Games is expanding its mobile app store to include nearly 20 third-party games on Android and EU iOS, launching a free games program, and temporarily covering Apple's Core Technology Fee for participating developers to counter platform restrictions. "Our aim here isn't just to launch a bunch of different stores in different places, but to build a single, cross-platform store in which, within the era of multi-platform games, if you buy a game or digital items in one place, you have the ability to own them everywhere," Epic CEO Tim Sweeney told reporters during a press briefing. The Verge reports: Under the program, Epic will offer new free games in the store each month before eventually switching to a weekly schedule. However, the games aren't actually in the store yet -- Epic said on Thursday that it "ran into a few bugs that we're working through now" and "we'll provide an update once the games are live and ready to play!"

To sweeten the deal for developers that participate in the free games program on iOS, Epic will help defray the cost of using third-party marketplaces. For one year, it will pay these developers' Core Technology Fee (CTF): a 50 euro cent fee levied on every install of an iOS app that uses third-party stores after it exceeds 1 million annual downloads. (Apple gives developers with less than 10 million euros in global revenue a three-year on-ramp.) [...] Epic writes in its blog post that covering the fee "is not financially viable for every third party app store or for Epic long term, but we'll do it while the European Commission investigates Apple's non-compliance with the law."

Meta announced a new video editing app called Edits to fill the gap left by ByteDance's CapCut editor, which was temporarily removed from the App Store and Google Play Store as part of the TikTok ban. While the ban was lifted, the new app serves to capitalize on the uncertainty of TikTok's future. TechCrunch reports: Instagram head Adam Mosseri (pictured above) said on Threads that the app will launch next month on iOS, with an Android version following later. He added that the company is working with select creators to gather feedback about the app. "Today we're announcing a new app called 'Edits,' for those of you who are passionate about making videos on your phone. There's a lot going on right now, but no matter what happens, it's our job to provide the best possible tools for creators," he wrote.

Mosseri said the app will have a suite of creative tools, including a dedicated tab for inspiration, a tab for keeping track of ideas, and a high-quality camera. Plus, it will have the ability to share draft versions of creations with friends or collaborators. He added that creators would be able to see insights on how videos made through Edits are performing on Instagram after publishing. In a separate post, he emphasized that the app is "more for creators than casual video makers," which is hard to quantify in measurable terms.

Pixelfed has launched its mobile app for iOS and Android, solidifying its position as a viable alternative to Instagram. The move also comes at a pivotal moment, as a potential Supreme Court ban on TikTok could drive users to explore other social media platforms. Pixelfed is ad-free, open source, decentralized, defaults to chronological feeds and doesn't share user data with third parties. Engadget reports: The platform launched in 2018, but was only available on the web or through third-party app clients. The Android app debuted on January 9 and the iOS app released today. Creator Daniel Supernault posted on Mastodon Monday evening that the platform had 11,000 users join over the preceding 24 hours and that more than 78,000 posts have been shared to Pixelfed to date. The platform runs on ActivityPub, the same protocol that powers several other decentralized social networks in the fediverse, such as Mastodon and Flipboard. The iOS and Android apps are available at their respective links.

Further reading: Meta Is Blocking Links to Decentralized Instagram Competitor Pixelfed