Google warns Cerberus anti-theft app for its stealthy behavior

Google has started a crackdown on a popular and handy anti-theft app, Cerberus, which is a worthy competition for Google’s own Android Device Manager service. Cerberus is a powerful and customizable anti-theft app, used by many users for several years.

The anti-theft app is beating out Google’s device manager and location finder with innovative features like completely hiding any evidence that the phone is being tracked by faking a shutdown, giving owners more time to find their stolen device.

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This move appears to be a protective strategy by Google, as the tech giant has warned Cerberus on its Google+ account claiming that the app is in violation of the Play Store’s Malicious Behaviour Policy.

Here’s the document of the email that Cerberus received,

Google claims that app is misleading users by hiding its tracking behavior while linking to APKs outside of the Play Store is also against Google’s rules. Google demands that the app must present a unique icon and persistent notification so the user can clearly identify it. Google has also asked app owners to make these changes in the app in 7 days, otherwise, it will be removed from Play Store.

Everyone one can clearly see that app’s stealthy behavior is specifically designed to trick phone thieves, however, Google wears some kind of special goggles to observe such cases. Hopefully, someone at Google will soon realize that, because crippling the app would be a massive annoyance to many users.