Barcode scanner app on Google Play infects 10M users with one update

Post by abrowne » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

pieter_mj wrote: post #308

aq3cn wrote: post #131

I stick to F-droid android app store. it asks developer to submit their code which gets compiled by the F-Droid team. apps with proprietary codes are flagged. few QR code apps from F-Droid. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.example.barcodescanner/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.secuso.privacyFriendlyCo...

Same here. The first one is also installable from Google Play with a different package name however : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.barcodesca... It also uses the ZXing library. It does not contain any tracking or ad SDK's per the exodus report : https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/org.barcode...

Post by ceejayoz » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:47 PM UTC

sunnyam wrote: post #224

teekert wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's always in the flashlights, the barcode scanners, the background packs. They all address super basic functionality that many, many people seem to want (if I could just set a ringtone from YouTube, it'd save me from going through a bunch of shady apps, if I ever needed a ringtone that is). Yet they just aren't included in the base OS (or weren't always, my lineage OS has a flashlight currently). Therefore, t…

Yeah, on Pixel phones you can just scan the barcode from the camera app, or from Google Lens

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:52 PM UTC

yodelshady wrote: post #232

bjarneh wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yeah, it's always in the flashlights, the barcode scanners, the background packs. Why are Google afraid to release a free non-harmful version of those popular apps. Is it to keep the illusion the app-store is a vibrant market place where tons of developers get rich? It just seems nuts to allow all those harmful apps (that does virtually nothing) to float among the top downloads.

FWIW I've not had an Android phone lacking a flashlight in the OS since... ever, I think. At a guess, the apps are preying on customers not aware of the OS-level functionality. QR scanning seems a little more complicated. FF for Android integrates a QR scanner, but chrome does not. Google's default camera also opens links, if you allow Google Lens.

Post by asiachick » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 1:59 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #226

bjarneh wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yeah, it's always in the flashlights, the barcode scanners, the background packs. Why are Google afraid to release a free non-harmful version of those popular apps. Is it to keep the illusion the app-store is a vibrant market place where tons of developers get rich? It just seems nuts to allow all those harmful apps (that does virtually nothing) to float among the top downloads.

> Why are Google afraid to release a free non-harmful version of those popular apps. Fear of anti-competition lawsuits and complaints. They're seeing what happens when Apple integrates stuff into iOS / OS X core that previously were third party provided, or the flak that Amazon gets for pushing AmazonBasics products.

Post by asiachick » Mon, Feb 08, 2021, 2:09 PM UTC

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #247

pcthrowaway wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm terrified of browser extensions for this very same reason (and yes, I still use them). I wish the browser vendors supported some kind of pinning to source code for open source extensions. Right now I have at least 2 extensions running that I know could access my passwords on any website as I enter them. One of those is Lastpass, which I use for storing/generating those passwords anyway, and the other is AdBlock P…

At least with LastPass you know they have a commercial model and reputation to incentivise better behaviour. If you download something that is free then that pressure doesn't exist.