Google is improving its ability to detect malware by introducing new protections designed to detect the most dangerous malicious elements.
Google Play Protect on Android is getting an update called Live Threat Detection that scans for potentially malicious apps on your phone by analyzing app behavior to alert you in real time if something looks suspicious.
The update was first announced at Google I/O earlier this year, and is now available for the Pixel 6 and later, and is supposed to reach non-Pixel Android phones among other manufacturers "in the coming months."
Live threat detection targets hard-to-detect malware apps that hide their intentions well. Instead of just scanning apps for malicious code when you download them, Play Protect will continue to look for signs of suspicious app behavior even after you install it on your phone.
This can help detect malware that initially remains dormant and then later begins engaging in malicious activity, and this detection is done on the device using Android 's privacy infrastructure called Private Compute Core to help keep user data safe, and users will receive real-time alerts to take action if needed.
Google is also rolling out another security feature today: scam call detection, as announced at I/O, which uses on-device AI to analyze phone calls and look for signs that the caller is a scammer.
If it detects suspicious conversation patterns or typical scam requests, it will flag the user and encourage them to end the call. It's only available to Phone by Google beta program members with Pixel 6 or later, and will roll out to more Android phones in the future.