If you have any of these Android apps on your phone, delete them immediately!
In the past, some of the Android apps we've warned you about were part of a category called "beauty camera apps." They claim to make you and other selfie subjects look beautiful by using filters and editing tricks to make skin look smoother, hair look thicker, teeth look whiter and more. There are even selfie camera apps designed to make you appear 10 to 15 pounds lighter. But some of these apps also contain malware that show full-screen ads constantly or play video ads in the background while the owner of the phone is unaware.
Do not install these 30 apps; if you've already downloaded them, delete them immediately
Cybernews researched the top 30 search results for beauty camera apps and discovered that these apps, installed in aggregate a total of 1.39 million times, have serious issues. More than half of these apps are based in Hong Kong or China. Three of the developers were run by the same group that previously offered malware packed apps. Some asked for permissions that were not necessary for the app to function including recording audio and access to a phone's GPS system. One app wanted the user to grant it 40 permissions. Now ask yourself, why would a beauty camera app need to know your location?
The developer of this app, still found in the Google Play Store, is connected with the developer of some of the malicious beauty camera apps
The bottom line here is that the malicious apps are all about making money for the developers. Besides showing full-display ads and running video ads in the background, the information collected by these apps can be very profitable thanks to deals made to sell users' location data. And because these apps are free, they attract vain phone owners looking to improve how they look on a selfie.
The 30 apps that you should not install, or should delete immediately if you've already downloaded, include:
Cybernews suggests that Android users looking to use a beauty camera app turn to titles from developers that they can trust such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram (both owned by Facebook so take that into consideration) and Snapchat. And don't forget to make it a habit to read the comments section before installing an app from a developer you've never heard of. If you see any red flags, do not install the app.
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