Google brings Chromes safe browsing to Android apps

Google has decided it’s time to integrate its safe browsing feature into Android apps, helping to protect users from potentially harmful sites that may force them to install dangerous software or reveal personal information.

The safe browsing feature has been around since 2007 and currently protects over 3bn devices using the Chrome browser across desktop and mobile. With the integration of safe browsing into WebView, which enables Android apps to display web content, by default means developers will no longer have to make any changes to their apps in order to benefit from Google’s security tool.

As the feature has been built using the same underlying technology as Chrome on Android, all Android apps that use WebView will now flash up Google’s famous red warning page when a user is potentially heading into a dangerous site. For some developers, the warning and network error triggered can be customised to suit them.