What ban? Crypto mining apps still available on Google Play Store

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Cryptocurrency mining applications are still live on the Google Play Store, despite the ban imposed in July.

On July 27, Google updated its developer policy, stating, “We don’t allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices.” The search engine giant gave developers 30 days to comply with the new policy or face being banned on the Play Store.

A month later, however, and its appears some crypto mining apps are still available on the Play Store, according to The Next Web.

The news outlet reported that at least eight crypto mining applications were still on Google’s digital distribution service. Of the eight, Google has reportedly taken down three apps—Miner Gate, AA Miners and Free BCH Miners—leaving behind NeoNeonMiner, Crypto Miner Pro, Pocket Miner and Pickaxe. JSEcoin, developed by UK-based blockchain startup, was no longer available on the Play Store barely a month after its launch, according to HardFork.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin Miner claimed to have made changes in their offering to comply with Google’s demands. Cloud Bitcoin Miner, which was not in Net Web’s list, was also available for download on the Google platform, claiming have made changes to accommodate the new Google terms.

Due to the recent changes, some applications have decided to look for ways around Google terms in order to continue operating on the google platform. One particular app, MinerGate, announced on Twitter that they have created a new version of their application. While speaking to reporters, the company stated that they had removed the features that allowed mining on phones in compliance with Google’s terms.

In order to comply with the updated @GooglePlay requirements, we removed the #mining option from the latest version of our application. The new v.2.4 is designed for monitoring and managing your mining process – both your own #hardware and #cloudmining. https://t.co/64jUvDyHcn pic.twitter.com/xyG8K1rHag

— MinerGate (@MinerGate) August 22, 2018

In April, Google announced that it was going to remove mining extensions from its Chrome Web Store. This was after 90 percent of the mining extensions failed to comply with Google’s rules. Google executed the move to prevent cryptojacking apps after an Android app was found mining cryptocurrencies without user’s consent in January.