Google Play Services: What are they, and how do they keep your Android phone safe?

Depending on how a lot of a telephone nerd you’re, it’s possible you’ll by no means have even thought of what Google Play Services really is. You might be forgiven for dismissing it as a dry and technical a part of Android, however in actuality, it is a crucially necessary a part of the best way the OS works. Essentially, it is what places the Google into Android, influencing all the things from safety to Google integration with the apps you utilize day by day.Google Play Services was introduced in 2014 as a strategy to introduce new options to Android telephones in a approach that did not require a firmware replace. That’s as a result of again in 2014, earlier than the times of month-to-month safety patches, even the very best Android telephones have been usually left ready months for essential fixes. And forcing customers to attend for a full firmware replace to guard in opposition to malicious apps or tweak the best way Google options labored was lower than splendid.So there are advantages for everybody. Developers get necessary APIs that work throughout the overwhelming majority of the lively Android consumer base. (At the time of writing, each system since 5.0 Lollipop helps the “current” Google Play Services model.) Users, in flip, profit from this by new options and safety fixes, even when they are not operating the newest OS model. And for Google, Play Services acts as insurance coverage in opposition to the rise of “forked” Android, as we have seen by the difficulties confronted by Huawei when it was blacklisted a number of years in the past.More than simply an app(Image credit score: Alex Dobie / Android Central)Google Play Services is basically simply an app, managed by Google, which updates mechanically within the background on each Google-certified Android telephone. There’s not likely any user-facing a part of the app until you depend the “Google Settings” a part of the Settings app. But Play Services’ numerous tendrils are unfold all through Android, particularly in newer variations of the OS.As a system-level “app,” Play Services can run with elevated permissions and supersede something and all the things within the OS if it must. Google has expanded Play Services’ capabilities extensively because it was launched approach again in 2014, and the corporate can simply modify it to do much more sooner or later.To put it merely: if an Android app interacts with a Google service, likelihood is it is doing so by Google Play Services.For apps, Play Services acts as a gateway to Google companies in your telephone.The Google Play Services shopper library offers builders APIs to make apps work with Google companies on gadgets with the Play Services app put in. This contains Cloud Messaging, Drive, Location, Play Games, Wear OS and Google Pay, to call only a few. And as a result of the Play Services app updates mechanically within the background and works on all variations of Android going again to Lollipop, Google can roll out modifications, enhancements, and new options in Android’s integration with these companies with out a firmware replace. That means the carriers and system producers aren’t within the loop in any respect, so Google is in full management of the rollout.While the Android firmware replace state of affairs has improved significantly since Play Services launched in 2014, a Play Services replace can nonetheless be pushed out a lot, a lot faster than a standard over-the-air replace. As a consequence, Play Services lets Google transfer at tempo when introducing new options and companies for Android.(Image credit score: Android Central)An amazing instance of that is the COVID-19 Exposure Notification System, developed in cooperation with Apple. On the Android aspect, the ENS was added within the background as a Play Services replace to each Android telephone operating firmware from 2014 or later. And when a glitch with the system occurred earlier in 2021, Google may repair it nearly instantly throughout the whole ecosystem.Without Google Play Services, rolling out something just like the COVID-19 ENS would possible have required herculean effort from producers and carriers to develop and certify up to date firmware for each Android telephone on this planet.Google could not have constructed its Exposure Notification System with out Play Services.It’s additionally good for builders and customers for a lot of different causes, most of that are fairly apparent as soon as you concentrate on it. Rather than devs having to fret about focusing on every of those Google options otherwise throughout OS variations, the heavy lifting is completed by Play Services. What’s extra, customers aren’t left within the lurch if they are not operating the newest model of Android. (And even in 2024, there are nonetheless a number of customers not operating the newest model of Android.)Through Play Services, many issues regarded as Android options — like Google location companies or Google Play Games — have been decoupled from the core OS. That’s one more reason why immediately evaluating iOS and Android model distribution does not inform the entire story. A really important a part of the Google Android expertise is stored up-to-date, mechanically, within the background.Google has continued this push in the direction of extra modularity in Android within the years since Play Services first arrived. Most notably in Android 10, “Project Mainline,” a.okay.a. Google Play System Updates, allowed elements of the OS itself, like Wi-Fi, tethering, and neural networking parts, to be up to date by Google with out requiring a full firmware replace. In Android 12, Google expanded Mainline to incorporate the Android runtime itself, the half that runs your apps. That of all makes Android far more safe, even when your telephone is not operating the newest platform replace.It’s true that some modifications, fixes, and enhancements nonetheless require a firmware replace. But in right this moment’s Android ecosystem, there is a ton of actually necessary stuff that now not does.A firewall in opposition to malware(Image credit score: Android Central)Google Play Services additionally has an infinite function to play in securing older Android telephones in opposition to dangerous apps, which typically come from app shops apart from the Google Play Store.The fundamental weapon in Google’s arsenal is Google Play Protect, which is successfully Android’s built-in virus scanner. When you are putting in an app from a third-party location, it is scanned by this continually up to date characteristic to establish malicious tendencies, and Play Protect will even periodically scan your telephone within the background. This is an enormous a part of why scary-sounding Android safety bugs like 2015’s “Fake ID” by no means find yourself taking off. Thanks to Play Services, the overwhelming majority of Android gadgets are protected, and offending apps are nipped within the bud nearly instantly.You may say this can be a stopgap answer, for the reason that underlying vulnerability is not fastened till a firmware replace or Project Mainline replace is rolled out. But both approach, the malware’s not getting by, and customers are protected — even when they’re operating an older Android safety patch degree.Google’s Android insurance coverage coverage(Image credit score: Android Central)Google Play Services is filled with proprietary Google stuff, and as such, is not included within the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP). Like different Google apps, it is closed-source. Any “fork” of open-source Android — a model constructed off AOSP with out Google’s involvement — is by itself by way of having to recreate what Play Services gives.Nothing is stopping a producer wanting to construct an Android system with out getting GMS (Google Mobile Services) approval from constructing their very own service layer as a substitute of Play Services. For instance, Huawei has accomplished precisely that with its Huawei Mobile Services layer. But such an endeavor represents an enormous technical problem, so for many producers who aren’t legally compelled to not work with Google, it is simpler to only license Play Services together with the remainder of GMS.Android could also be open supply, however Play Services undoubtedly is not.Just as Play Services is an answer to a few of Android’s inherent weaknesses — the gradual tempo of firmware updates because of the variety of shifting elements concerned, and the app improvement and safety implications of this — the shortage of Play Services in Android forks creates important engineering work for anybody critical about taking Android away from Google. In impact, it is an insurance coverage coverage that ensures Google long-term management of Android — at the very least in all places outdoors of mainland China.That’s to not say that is essentially a part of any diabolical Google grasp plan, but that is the state of affairs that exists. An working system like Android can solely gobble up market share with the assistance of system (and service) variety. Diversity inevitably results in fragmentation, and to fight that, you want a service and safety layer that exists outdoors the OS.That’s the problem that any convincing fork of Android wants to resolve, and it is not a simple one. In the meantime, these within the Google Android world have Play Services to thank for enabling the platform’s development and serving to maintain telephones safe.