Pixel phones can detect and alert you about malicious apps in real time

The Google Play Protect service for Android is getting an update called live threat detection that looks for potentially dangerous apps on your phone by analyzing app behavior and alerts you in real time if something looks dangerous. The update was first announced at Google I/O earlier this year and is now available for the Pixel 6 and newer phones. It should come to other non-Pixel Android phones from Lenovo, OnePlus, Nothing, and Oppo, among others “in the coming months.”

Live threat detection is specifically targeted at malware applications that hide their intentions well. Rather than just scanning apps for malicious code when you download them, Play Protect will always look for signs of suspicious app behavior even after they’re on your phone. This can help it detect malware that initially remains silent and later starts doing malicious work. This discovery takes place on the device using Android’s privacy infrastructure called Private Compute Core to help keep user data secure, and users will receive real-time alerts to take action if needed.

Google is rolling out another security feature today, too: scam call detection. Also announced at I/O, this feature uses on-device AI to analyze calls and look for signs that the caller is a fraud. If it detects suspicious chat patterns or calls for typical scam attempts, it will flag the user and prompt them to hang up. It’s only available to members of the beta program for the Phone by Google app with Pixel 6 or later (as of this morning that program appears to be full) and will be rolled out to more Android phones in the future.