Twenty nine “beauty camera” apps that used to be on Google Play had one or more malicious functionalities, such as stealing users' photos instead of “beautifying” them, pushing unwanted and often malicious ads on users, and redirecting them to phishing sites that stole their credentials. Furthermore, the user interface of most of them was designed to make uninstallation difficult.
Users should of course uninstall these dangerous apps if they haven't yet, but they should also stay away from non free apps in general. All non free apps carry a potential risk because there is no easy way of knowing what they really do.
These apps seemingly allows users to “beautify” their pictures by uploading them to the designated server. However, instead of getting a final result with the edited photo, the user gets a picture with a fake update prompt in nine different languages. The authors can collect the photos uploaded in the app, and possibly use them for malicious purposes — for example as fake profile pics in social media.
The Banned Beauty Camera Apps
Pro Camera Beauty 1,000,000+ installed apps !
Cartoon Art Photo 1,000,000+
Emoji Camera 1,000,000+
Artistic effect Filter 500,000+
Art Editor 100,000+
Beauty Camera 100,000+
Selfie Camera Pro 100,000+
Horizon Beauty Camera 100,000+
Super Camera 100,000+
Art Effects for Photo 100,000+
Awesome Cartoon Art 100,000+
Art Filter Photo 50,000+
Art Filter Photo Effcts 10,000+
Cartoon Effect 10,000+
Art Effect 10,000+
Photo Editor 5,000+
Wallpapers HD 5,000+
Magic Art Filter Photo Editor 5,000+
Fill Art Photo Editor 1,000+
ArtFlipPhotoEditing 1,000+
Art Filter 1,000+
Cartoon Art Photo 1,000+
Prizma Photo Effect 1,000+
Cartoon Art Photo Filter 100+
Art Filter Photo Editor 100+
Pixture 100+
Art Effect 50+
Photo Art Effect 10+
Cartoon Photo Filter 5+