What are Android Certified Devices

Google has decided to identify with the green Play Protect sticker all those phones that pre-install security applications made in Mountain View

In recent years Android has become the most widely used operating system on smartphones. For this reason, Google has decided to audit the phones of various manufacturers to certify the safest ones for users. The devices that have adhered to Mountain View's standards have been defined as Google Certified Android devices.

Also given the continuous problems on the Play Store, in recent times Google has been focusing heavily on the cybersecurity of its mobile operating system. It has made special algorithms to discover malicious apps containing adware, ransomware or other dangerous malware. In addition to all this, Mountain View has included a sticker to be applied on every Android device that will adopt the new security features. The various features will be pre-installed by Google and are named Play Protect. The user doesn't have to do anything to activate them, they act in the background to avoid cyber attacks.

Certified Android Devices

In practice we can define as Certified Android Devices all those phones that have pre-installed security applications designed by the Californian computer giant. There are, in fact, two families of manufacturers on Android. Those that install Google applications by default and those that leave the user free to choose. The first ones will be recognizable by consumers thanks to the Play Protect label. An information that will ensure the use of a protected and reliable system. To allow all manufacturers to join the project in a simple way, Google has made customizable the various security applications, so as not to create compatibility problems with any smartphone. Among other things, the Play Protect app increases the security of the Play Store and performs automatic scans to look for malware on the phone. It's unclear at the moment if the cost of adding these security apps will all fall on manufacturers. In that case, some entry-level phones may experience a bump in price compared to the past.

Here's a list of the major manufacturers defined by Google as Android Certified Devices: Acer, Asus, Clementoni, HMD, HP, HTC, Huawei, Lenovo, LG, Motorola, NEC, NGM, Nokia, Nubia, Nvidia, OnePlus, Oppo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Wiko, Xiaomi and ZTE.