Google Chrome Might Soon Be Less Annoying When Downloading APKs

 

Google Chrome logo stock photo 1

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

TL;DR

Google Chrome for Android may soon reduce how often it displays the “file may be dangerous” warning.

The warning will no longer appear if the user has enabled Google Play Protect.

However, the warning will still appear if Play Protect is disabled, and Chrome will also display a new warning to enable Play Protect.

While the Google Play Store is undoubtedly the number one destination for downloading the best Android apps, it’s not the only repository for them. There are several app stores and third-party websites from which to download Android apps. However, if you use Google Chrome to download Android apps from online sources, you usually have to acknowledge that the files may be dangerous before Chrome will allow you to download them. Soon, however, Google Chrome for Android may reduce the frequency with which it warns you about downloading Android apps.

When trying to install third-party apps without the Google Play Store, you need to get an Android application package (APK). You can get these from a variety of online sources, but in general, it’s best to stick to official websites or websites that people trust. Since many hackers try to trick people into downloading malicious Android apps through fake websites, Chrome displays a general “file may be dangerous” warning when downloading an APK file. While this likely protects many Chrome users from harmful Android apps, it also unfairly smears legitimate online sources and acts as a barrier to sideloading.

Google Chrome file may be dangerous

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority

Fortunately, Google wants to reduce the number of times Chrome displays a “file may be dangerous” warning. The browser will soon use the presence of Google Play Protect to decide whether or not to display the alert. Google Play Protect is a threat protection service built into the Play Store that determines whether apps are potentially dangerous. While Play Protect initially only scanned new apps downloaded to Google Play by developers themselves or by users when they first sideloaded them, it was recently upgraded to perform some on-device app scans in real-time and will soon perform even deeper scans using on-device AI. Given these improvements to Play Protect, it’s no surprise that the Chrome team now considers the “file may be dangerous” warning unnecessary.

That’s why Google’s Chrome team is preparing to disable the “file may be dangerous” warning when Google Play Protect is enabled. This is evidenced by a series of Chromium code changes tracked by this issue on the Google Issue Tracker. In a separate issue, Googlers on the Chrome team report that they’ve decided to only display the “file may be dangerous” warning if Google Play Protect is disabled. If Play Protect is disabled, Chrome will display an additional warning after the download is complete to enable the service. It’s worth noting that if users are prompted for the file location when downloading a file, the “file may be dangerous” warning won’t be displayed even if Play Protect is disabled, which Google says is consistent with Chrome’s behavior on desktop.

A short video demonstrating these proposed changes has been included in the issue. As you can see in the video, the warning does not appear on the first download because the user was prompted for the file location. On the second download, the warning appears because the user was not prompted for the file location while Play Protect was disabled. Finally, on the third download, the warning does not appear because Play Protect was re-enabled after the second download.

This behavior change is coming in two parts. The first part will see the addition of the Google Play Protect prompt on “unsafe downloads.” In other words, when downloading APKs, Chrome will warn users to enable Play Protect if it’s disabled. The flag for this was just added in the Chrome Canary track, but it’s not yet enabled by default. However, it will soon be enabled by default as Google says, “the new behavior is small enough that we don’t plan to A/B test this launch.” The second part will disable the “file may be unsafe” warning when Play Protect is enabled. While a flag for this part has also been added to Chrome Canary, Google says it “will not ship.” [this] behavior change as part of the rapid launch of Google Play Protect,” but that it is “still likely to be delivered in the near term.”

Hopefully this change in Google Chrome won’t take too long to roll out. As a regular user of websites like APKMirror, I frequently encounter the “file may be dangerous” warning. Since I keep Play Protect enabled like most users, I shouldn’t need to acknowledge this warning every time I download an APK file. There are some very good Android apps that can only be obtained through sideloading, so getting rid of this warning could remove a barrier that prevents some users from installing them.

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