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Important notice for developers of Android applications. Google just announced that it will remove from Google Play apps that use the accessibility features to autofill passwords or perform other actions common And it will do so for security reasons, as reported today by Android Police.
Until now, the Android operating system has been permissive in this regard. It offered certain applications the ability to modify the behavior of other system functions, through what are called “accessibility services”.In this sense, it was about allowing developers to create apps specifically aimed at users with special needs.
Despite that, the API in question has been used, by some developers, for different purposes. One of these, autofill text fields This can be a very innocent function. But the truth is that in order to work, and after having executed the permissions, the API can be used to read the data that the user enters in the applications. And this is an obvious security risk that Google is willing to fight against.
Google will remove applications for security reasons
There are some important applications that use this technique. Surely you have heard or used them on some occasion: LastPass, Tasker, Cerberus and Universal Copy. If they want to stay in the Google Play Store, they will have to find a solution for their applications. Or remove the functions that make use of this possibility. Otherwise, they will be struck down from the Google store in just 30 days.
The developers of these applications have already been informed by Google. They are told that the only applications that can use these accessibility services are those that offer some kind of feature to help people with disabilities This would therefore exclude other very common features, such as the ability to copy content to the clipboard. To configure automatic tasks or enter passwords automatically.
Applications that directly depend on accessibility services will need to consider this very seriously. And look for solutions to avoid its disappearance from the Google Play Store in a few daysWith all the damages that this could cause them.
