Google Bans Android App Updates Outside Of Google Play
Google has updated its terms and conditions for Google Play to prevent developers from updating their apps outside of the store. The move comes after Facebook began experimenting with in-app updates that circumvented Google Play and confused a number of its users.
Google has always been against “applications that cause users to unknowingly download or install applications from sources outside of Google Play,” The Verge reports. But it has updated the “Dangerous Products” section within its terms and conditions to clear up any confusion.
“An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism,” the terms now state. This makes it pretty clear that pushing updates outside of Google Play — like those issued by Facebook — is not acceptable.
Facebook said at the time that it was only pushing updates to users who had allowed their devices to install apps from unknown sources. Under Google’s old terms, that was okay — but not any more. You shouldn’t see any more Facebook updates outside of Google Play anymore, then.
