Aggressive adware, previously limited to PCs, is now found on up to 75 per cent of free apps worldwide on Google Play, according to Bitdefender. The provider of antivirus solutions found that 90 per cent of free Android apps contain adware, which is usually limited to pop-ups, with aggressive viruses affecting around 75 per cent of apps analysed by the company in July this year. 

Ant Smasher was identified by the Bitedefender Lab as the most popular app on Google Play, with more than 50m downloads, to contain aggressive adware. The adware in affected apps can create shortcuts on a users screens, change default search engines, and push notifications to the Android notification tray – which can cause a drop in handset performance. 

App piracy has been identified as another major headache for Android software developers. A survey carried out by Protection Technology Research reveals that 55 per cent of businesses working with the platform see the risk of piracy – and loss of revenue it leads to – as either important or very important.

According to the company, which develops content protection systems, some developers reported up to 100,000 downloads of applications and games, but only about 10 per cent were paid for. 

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