Announced at I/O 2017, Google Play Protect is essentially a rebrand of the company’s existing suite of security services for Android devices.
Compared to the existing protections, Play Protect is more apparent to users and better highlights the security it is providing. It's Google's promise to further guard Android phones against rogue and malicious apps.
The company said that it is rolling its Play Protect home screen to every Android devices out there that run Google Mobile Services 11 or higher. Users can see it under their device's settings, under 'Security', it it's available. Similar to most apps out there than scan malicious apps for threats, The notable difference is that Play Protect is Google's.
Google said that Play Protect will automatically scan apps from the Play Store that are installed on users' mobile devices to ensure that there's no malicious app doing harm, If ever Play Protect find suspicious apps, they will be blocked or removed from the users' device.
Play Protect's interface looks similar to most other apps that scan for threats. It features a button to start a manual re-scan of installed apps, in addition to the last scan time. Individual apps that were installed include a "Verified by Google Play Protect" for reassurance.
The Verify Apps feature has long been available in Google Play Services, but with Play Protect, it has been rebranded with the Protect branding.
The service was first announced in May, and Google finally makes it widely available. Using machine learning, Play Protect should add another layer of security on users' mobile devices. The only downside of Play Protect is that users sideloading apps from outside the Google's Play Store will still run the risks of being infected by malware.