August Google System Updates: Play Store 'Sponsored' Badge, More [U]

Among other changes in Android's Google System Updates for August, the Play Store is changing all of its ads to now read as "Sponsored."

Update: The latest patch notes point to improvements in emergency situations and an expansion of Google Wallet.

Many of the best parts of Android – whether running on your phone, watch, tablet, or car – are handled by a core set of Google apps and services that the company has dubbed the "Google System." The Play Store delivers apps and updates to your device and is also responsible for the occasional Play System Update that keeps core Android components updated without a major system update. Meanwhile, Google Play Services handles the "smarter" side of smartphones, from background services for notifications and security to user-facing things like Google Wallet. More recently, Google has also lumped other apps into the Google System collection, adding the Android System Webview and the Pixel-only app Adaptive Connectivity Services. Each month, the company publishes a changelog for these apps, gradually updating it as the month goes on. Throughout August, we'll keep an eye on these Google System Updates and explain what they mean for your Android device. The easiest way to check whether you need to update Google Play Services on your phone is to follow a direct link to the app's Play Store listing and update from there, if available. To update the Play Store, tap your avatar in the corner, then "Settings." Under the "About" section, you'll see an option to "Update Play Store." Meanwhile, Google Play system updates can be found through the Settings app, under About phone > Android version > Google Play system update. With August now underway, Google has started up its listing for the August 2023 Google System Updates, albeit with only a few actual patch notes for now. Currently, the most notable detail is that the Play Store is changing the way it displays advertising content. Where there would previously be a small badge that says "Ads," this is being updated to show "Sponsored." This should make it even more visually clear that you're looking at paid content rather than a traditional suggestion or search result. The Play Store is also set to make it easier for users to report "illegal content" and for developers to track "user sentiment" – a broad look at how an app's users feel about the app based on reviews – across Android Auto, Android TV, and Wear OS. All of these Play Store changes are set to roll out with version 37. Update 8/24: Google's updates for August have cropped up quite a bit slower than in months past, but that may have something to do with the upcoming launch of Android 14, which could happen any day now. First up in this batch, the latest Google Play Services update should make it easier for first responders to locate Android phone/watch users in emergency situations, with the goal of ensuring a rapid response time. This same update should also bring a new "Recommended" tab in "Google Settings," which will feature a "static" list of options you may be looking for or that Google has chosen to highlight. Meanwhile, your phone's "Security and privacy" settings page should have recently gained "Unknown tracker alerts" – a precursor to Android's upcoming Find My Device network – along with easy access to Google's Password Checkup feature. In Google Wallet news, the service should be launching soon in more countries and regions of the world, though the company did not specify which. Additionally, as my colleague Abner Li explained in detail, the "Guest mode" of Chromecast devices has been disabled. Account Management [Auto] Bug fixes for Account Management related services. Device Connectivity [Auto, PC, Phone, TV, Wear] New developer features for Google and third party app developers to support Device Connectivity related processes in their apps. [Phone] Guest mode setting in Cast is now deprecated. Google Play Store [Phone] Change ads badge text from "Ads" to "Sponsored" across all of the Play Store surfaces. [Auto, TV, Wear] Improve your ability to report illegal content and enable user sentiment tracking for apps and Play reviews. Safety & Emergency [Phone, Wear] Improvements to Android Emergency Location Service to help call takers and first responders reduce emergency response times. Security & Privacy [Phone] Integrate Password Checkup and tracker alerts into Security and privacy settings. Support [Phone] Relevant snippets from help articles will now be shown directly in the Feedback flow. Wallet [Phone, Wear] Adding wallet to additional countries. System Management [Auto, PC, Phone, TV, Wear] Bug fixes for System Management & Diagnostics related services. [Auto] Updates to system management services that improve Privacy. [Phone] Improve the profile creation flow for a subset of Google accounts. [Auto] When TOS acceptance is required to use Google apps and services, guest users must also accept TOS at least once every 24 hours. [Auto, PC, Phone, TV, Wear] Updates to system management services that improve Privacy. [Auto] Updates to system management services that improve Media Support. [Phone] New "Recommended" tab with static feature recommendations in Google Settings. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

A Simple Idea That Could Make Android More Secure

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I think about mobile security a lot. I also talk about it quite a bit. If mobile security wasn't always an issue, I wouldn't have to bother. Unfortunately, it is, and I find myself always pondering the topic.

The other day, a thought popped into my mind that I had to test. I dove into Android settings, hoping I could find the answer to my question. No matter how much I dug, I couldn't find it. The only option that would even remotely pull off what I wanted was by way of a third-party app.

Also: 5 simple ways to improve your Android phone security today

And you know how I feel about them (spoiler alert: if it's not absolutely necessary… don't install it).

I found myself back at the beginning, wondering why it wasn't possible to do what I wanted with the built-in tools and options. 

It just made so much sense.

I suppose I should explain myself.

The problem

One of the many reasons why I install so few apps on my Android phone is the idea that they could access my home network. With the help of malware, any app attached to my network could (with the right code) capture and read packets traveling in and out of my LAN. If I log into my bank account via my desktop web browser, that app could intercept that traffic, read it, and send it to a malicious third party. 

Also: How to turn your old Android phone into a security or pet camera

That's a problem. And even though Android makes it possible for you to adjust the permissions of every app, those permissions neglect one very important aspect of security… your network.

Yes, I lean toward the overly paranoid when it comes to security. I use 2FA for every service that offers it, I use a password manager, and I have three different wireless networks in my home (each for a different purpose). So, the idea of any app on my mobile device having access to my LAN doesn't sit well with me. I not only access important accounts from my network but also get information from various clients (some of which are embargoed and sensitive) -- and I sometimes have to send contracts that contain sensitive information. I can't have a mobile app with a hidden payload eavesdropping on my network traffic.

And that leads me to…

The solution

Imagine if you could limit a mobile app to only using your cellular network. That would mean the app wouldn't have direct access to your LAN. The app would be isolated to using only cellular data, and the packets moving back and forth on your local area network would be isolated from the app.

With the ability to prevent an app from accessing your wireless network, you would only have to worry about the traffic coming in and out on your cellular network. Such isolation could be a real boon to preventing malicious apps from accessing various devices on your LAN (especially IoT devices, which tend to be far less secure than phones, desktops, and laptops). 

Also: The best mobile VPNs keep your digital data secure

I realize there is a big caveat to this idea. If you limit a mobile to only using cellular data, you could wind up with overages on your mobile bill. This could be especially true if the app in question has anything to do with streaming video or audio. But from my perspective, this is a risk worth taking. 

Plus, it would be an optional feature. If preventing cellular overages is more important than preventing an app from accessing the devices and traffic on your wireless network, then you could not make use of the network isolation feature. 

Although I'm not a developer, this feature seems like it would be a no-brainer. Android already has the built-in feature to limit apps from using cellular data, so why not add the opposite take on this? I realize the idea behind apps not using cellular data is to prevent overages. However, adding the ability to better secure users from malicious apps taking control of their networks and devices should be a top priority for Google.

Also: This compact Android is the best phone you've never heard of

And I see no reason why this can't be baked into the operating system. It might not be an option for everyone, but those who take their security seriously would see this as a real boon.

Google, consider this option for Android. I understand it would also require work on the part of every app developer to make it work. If you deem this a worthy security feature, and you have developers who refuse to add it to their apps, you can always remove the app from the Play Store. 

It's well past time security became the single highest priority for Google, Android, Android app developers, and users. Until then, we'll continue having to worry about data and identity theft.

See also How to enable Notification History on your Android (and why you should) How to turn your old Android phone into a security or pet camera How to 'bubble' a Messages conversation on Android (and why you should) How to enable read receipts for texts on Android

Google Says Its Android Runtime Makes Apps Faster, Even Without An OS Update

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Google's latest blog post is all about extolling the virtues of ART, the Android runtime, and its new ability to be updated independently of the OS. ART is the engine that powers Android and is responsible for compiling Java and Kotlin into bytecode and executing it. Updates to ART have let Google improve the speed of apps, even without a full OS update. With the rollout of the Android 13 version of ART, Google said it has seen "real-world app start-up improvements of up to 30% on some devices."

ART officially became a modular part of the OS (an APEX module) in Android 12, allowing it to be updated via the Play Store instead of a system update. With the current Android distribution numbers, that means about 31 percent of users (or 600 million users) regularly get a better, faster app engine. While many components have been slowly moved into an APEX module, Google said ART is the biggest one, with "an order of magnitude more APIs than any other APEX module." Google has started versioning ART like it's a major software project, and with Android 14 will come "ART 14." The newest version of the runtime won't be limited to Android 14, though—it and most of its improvements will roll out to older OSes, too, so it's possible to run ART 14 on your neglected Android 12 phone.

Advertisement Enlarge / ART 13 brought big app startup time improvements. Google

As for ART 13, Google provided the above chart to show when the new update rolled out and the effect it has had on average app startup time. Google detailed some of the ART 13 changes with the release of Android 13, saying that "ART [13] makes switching to and from native code much faster, with JNI calls now up to 2.5x faster." ART "also performs more byte-code verification at install time, avoiding the expense of verification at runtime and keeping app startup times fast," Google said. The result is a 30 percent startup time boost for some devices.

Google said the ART 14 update will jump Android from OpenJDK 11 to OpenJDK 17 "along with new compiler and runtime optimizations that improve performance while reducing code size." It should be out on Android 14 sometime next month, kicking off a Play Store rollout process.

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