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The "App Ops" privacy and application permissions control system, used for internal development and testing by Google, was introduced in Google's Android 4.3 release for the Nexus devices. Initially hidden, the feature was discovered publicly; it allowed users to install a management application and approve or deny permission requests individually for each of the applications installed on a device. Access to the App Ops was later restricted by Google starting with Android 4.4.2 with an explanation that the feature was accidentally enabled and not intended for end-users; for such a decision Google received criticism from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Individual application permissions management, through the App Ops or third-party tools, is currently only posssible with root access to the device.
Research from security company Trend Micro lists premium service abuse as the most common type of Android malware, where text messages are sent from infected phones to premium-rate telephone numbers without the consent or even knowledge of the user. Other malware displays unwanted and intrusive adverts on the device, or sends personal information to unauthorised third parties. Security threats on Android are reportedly growing exponentially; however, Google engineers have argued that the malware and virus threat on Android is being exaggerated by security companies for commercial reasons, and have accused the security industry of playing on fears to sell virus protection software to users. Google maintains that dangerous malware is actually extremely rare, and a survey conducted by F-Secure showed that only 0.5% of Android malware reported had come from the Google Play store.
Google currently uses Google Bouncer malware scanner to watch over and scan the Google Play store apps. It is intended to flag up suspicious apps and warn users of any potential threat with an application before they download it. Android version 4.2 Jelly Bean was released in 2012 with enhanced security features, including a malware scanner built into the system, which works in combination with Google Play but can scan apps installed from third party sources as well, and an alert system which notifies the user when an app tries to send a premium-rate text message, blocking the message unless the user explicitly authorises it. Several security firms, such as Lookout Mobile Security, AVG Technologies, and McAfee, have released antivirus software for Android devices. This software is ineffective as sandboxing also applies to such applications, limiting their ability to scan the deeper system for threats.
Android smartphones have the ability to report the location of Wi-Fi access points, encountered as phone users move around, to build databases containing the physical locations of hundreds of millions of such access points. These databases form electronic maps to locate smartphones, allowing them to run apps like Foursquare, Google Latitude, Facebook Places, and to deliver location-based ads. Third party monitoring software such as TaintDroid, an academic research-funded project, can, in some cases, detect when personal information is being sent from applications to remote servers. In August 2013, Google released Android Device Manager (ADM), a component that allows users to remotely track, locate, and wipe their Android device through a web interface. In December 2013, Google released ADM as an Android application on the Google Play store, where it is available to devices running Android version 2.2 and higher.
The open-source nature of Android allows security contractors to take existing devices and adapt them for highly secure uses. For example Samsung has worked with General Dynamics through their Open Kernel Labs acquisition to rebuild Jelly Bean on top of their hardened microvisor for the "Knox" project.
As part of the broader 2013 mass surveillance disclosures it was revealed in September 2013 that the American and British intelligence agencies, the National Security Agency (NSA) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) respectively, have access to the user data on iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices. They are reportedly able to read almost all smartphone information, including SMS, location, emails, and notes. Further reports in January 2014 revealed the intelligence agencies capabilities to intercept the personal information transmitted across the internet by social networks and other popular apps such as Angry Birds, which collect personal information of their users for advertising and other commercial reasons. GCHQ has, according to The Guardian a wiki-style guide of different apps and advertising networks, and the different data that can be siphoned from each. Later that week, the Finnish Angry Birds developer Rovio announced that it was reconsidering its relationships with its advertising platforms in the light of these revelations, and called upon the wider industry to do the same.
The documents revealed a further effort by the intelligence agencies to intercept Google Maps searches and queries submitted from Android and other smartphones to collect location information in bulk. The NSA and GCHQ insist their activities are in compliance with all relevant domestic and international laws, although the Guardian stated "the latest disclosures could also add to mounting public concern about how the technology sector collects and uses information, especially for those outside the US, who enjoy fewer privacy protections than Americans."
Licensing
The source code for Android is open source; it is developed in private by Google, with the source code released publicly when a new version of Android is released. Google publishes most of the code (including network and telephonystacks) under the non-copyleft Apache License version 2.0. which allows modification and redistribution. The license does not grant rights to the "Android" trademark, so device manufacturers and wireless carriers have to license it from Google under individual contracts. Associated Linux kernel changes are released under the copyleft GNU General Public License version 2, developed by the Open Handset Alliance, with the source code publicly available at all times. Typically, Google collaborates with a hardware manufacturer to produce a "flagship" device (part of the Nexus series) featuring the new version of Android, then makes the source code available after that device has been released. The only Android release which was not immediately made available as source code was the tablet-only 3.0 Honeycomb release. The reason, according to Andy Rubin in an official Android blog post, was because Honeycomb was rushed for production of the Motorola Xoom, and they did not want third parties creating a "really bad user experience" by attempting to put onto smartphones a version of Android intended for tablets.
While all of Android itself is open source software, most Android devices ship with a large amount of proprietary software, such as Google Mobile Services, which includes apps such as Google Play Store, Google Search, and Google Play Services—a software layer which provides APIs that integrate with Google-provided services, among others. These apps must be licensed from Google by device makers, and can only be shipped on devices which meet its compatibility guidelines and other requirements. Custom, certified distributions of Android produced by manufacturers (such as TouchWiz and HTC Sense) may also replace certain stock Android apps with their own proprietary variants and add additional software not included in the stock Android operating system. With many devices, there are binary blobs that must be provided by the manufacturer in order for Android to work.
Several stock apps in Android's open source code used by previous versions (such as Search, Music, and Calendar) have also been effectively deprecated by Google, with development having shifted to newer but proprietary versions distributed and updated through Play Store, such as Google Search and Google Play Music. While these older apps remain in Android's source code, they have no longer received any major updates. Additionally, proprietary variants of the stock Camera and Gallery apps also include certain functions (such as Photosphere panoramas and Google+ album integration) that are excluded from open source versions (however, they have yet to be completely abandoned). Similarly, the Nexus 5 uses a non-free variation of Android 4.4's home screen that is embedded directly within the Google Search app, adding voice-activated search and the ability to access Google Now as a page on the home screen itself. Although an update for Google Search app containing the relevant components was released through Google Play for all Android devices, the new home screen required an additional stub application to function, and was not provided in Android 4.4 updates for any other devices (which still used the existing home screen from Android version 4.3). The stub application was officially released on Play Store as Google Now Launcher in February 2014, initially for Nexus and Google Play Edition devices with Android version 4.4.
Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation have been critical of Android and have recommended the usage of alternatives such as Replicant, because drivers and firmware vital for the proper functioning of Android devices are usually proprietary, and because Google Play can forcibly install or deinstall apps and invites non-free software.
Leverage over manufacturers
Google Mobile Services software, along with Android trademarks, can only be licensed by hardware manufacturers for devices that meet Google's compatibility standards contained within Android Compatibility Definition Document. Thus, forks of Android that make major changes to the OS itself, such as Amazon's Fire OS (used on the Kindle Fire line of tablets, and oriented towards Amazon services), Microsoft's Nokia X Software Platform (a fork used by the Nokia X family, which is oriented towards Microsoft services), or other forks which exclude Google apps due to censorship issues (such as in China), do not include any of Google's non-free components, are incompatible with apps that require them, and must ship with their own proprietary software marketplace instead of Google Play Store. In 2014, Google also began to require that all Android devices which license the Google Mobile Services software display a prominent "Powered by Android" logo on their boot screens.
Members of the Open Handset Alliance, which include the majority of Android OEMs, are also contractually forbidden from producing Android devices based on forks of the OS; in 2012, Acer Inc. was forced by Google to halt production on a device powered byAlibaba Group's Aliyun OS with threats of removal from the OHA, as Google deemed the platform to be an incompatible version of Android. Alibaba Group defended the allegations, arguing that the OS was a distinct platform from Android (primarily using HTML5 apps), but incorporated portions of Android's platform to allow backwards compatibility with third-party Android software. Indeed, the devices did ship with an application store which offered Android apps; however, the majority of them were pirated.
Reception
Android received a lukewarm reaction when it was unveiled in 2007. Although analysts were impressed with the respected technology companies that had partnered with Google to form the Open Handset Alliance, it was unclear whether mobile phone manufacturers would be willing to replace their existing operating systems with Android. The idea of an open-source, Linux-based development platform sparked interest, but there were additional worries about Android facing strong competition from established players in the smartphone market, such as Nokia and Microsoft, and rival Linux mobile operating systems that were in development. These established players were skeptical: Nokia was quoted as saying "we don't see this as a threat," and a member of Microsoft's Windows Mobile team stated "I don't understand the impact that they are going to have."
Since then Android has grown to become the most widely used smartphone operating system and "one of the fastest mobile experiences available." Reviewers have highlighted the open-source nature of the operating system as one of its defining strengths, allowing companies such as Microsoft (Nokia X family), Amazon (Kindle Fire), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Ouya, Baidu and others to fork the software and release hardware running their own customised version of Android. As a result, it has been described by technology website Ars Technica as "practically the default operating system for launching new hardware" for companies without their own mobile platforms. This openness and flexibility is also present at the level of the end user: Android allows extensive customisation of devices by their owners and apps are freely available from non-Google app stores and third party websites. These have been cited as among the main advantages of Android phones over others.
Despite Android's popularity, including an activation rate three times that of iOS, there have been reports that Google has not been able to leverage their other products and web services successfully to turn Android into the money maker that analysts had expected. The Verge suggested that Google is losing control of Android due to the extensive customization and proliferation of non-Google apps and services—Amazon's Kindle Fire line usesFire OS, a heavily modified fork of Android which does not include or support any of Google's proprietary components, and requires that users obtain software from its competing Amazon Appstore instead of Play Store. Google SVP Andy Rubin, who was replaced as head of the Android division in March 2013, has been blamed for failing to establish a lucrative partnership with cell phone makers. The chief beneficiary of Android has been Samsung, whose Galaxy brand has surpassed that of Android in terms of brand recognition since 2011. Meanwhile other Android manufacturers have struggled since 2011, such as LG, HTC, and Google's own Motorola Mobility (whose partnership with Verizon Wireless to push the "DROID" brand has faded since 2010). In 2014, in an effort to improve prominence of the Android brand, Google began to require that devices featuring its proprietary components display an Android logo on the boot screen.
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