According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this year, there will be 805 million 5G mobile phone users in China in 2023, and smartphones have become people's closest "partner", playing a major role in life, work, study and other scenarios. As one of the world's leading application distribution platforms, HUAWEI AppGallery has a large number of users around the world, and its privacy and application security issues that are closely related to users affect the sensitive nerves of hundreds of millions of users all the time.
Recently, the 2023 Security and Privacy Report on AppGallery (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") was officially released. According to the report, as of December 31, 2023, HUAWEI AppGallery has provided services to Huawei end users in more than 170 countries and regions around the world, spanning diversified devices such as smartphones, PCs, tablets, mobile phones, smart screens, car machines, and VR, with more than 580 million monthly active users worldwide.
With the explosion of developers, the risks of various applications can be described as mixed, causing serious disruption to users. In 2023, HUAWEI AppGallery has completed more than one million app listing reviews, and has built a rapid screening mechanism for app privacy, viruses, compatibility, and other capabilities, ensuring that apps are safely and quickly put on the shelves. In addition, HUAWEI AppGallery will retest and inspect applications on the shelves from time to time, promptly investigate illegal applications, and proactively deal with problematic applications, and the number of retested applications in 2023 will reach hundreds of thousands.
In the context of the widespread use of smartphones and other devices, minors can easily get their hands on the device, and some parents will even equip their children with a mobile phone, but how to prevent minors from violating the rules or overusing the app? HUAWEI AppGallery has adopted two sets of measures: one is to establish and improve the application review mechanism from the shelf stage to avoid putting on the shelves apps that endanger the physical and mental health of minors, and the other is to help developers age classify the content of apps through the online age rating questionnaire service, so as to create a safe, pure, and pure app for minors. Age-appropriate and compliant use environment.
The "Report" also publicized the typical retest projects and typical cases in 2023. A calculator app was removed from the platform because it contained an illegal advertising page, an exam app was removed from the platform because it contained links to online games that did not comply with the protection of minors, and an app was found to be suspected of illegal fundraising and had privacy and security compliance issues, and was removed from the platform. This series of punishment measures has played a role in urging third-party developers and building a safe and healthy application ecosystem for users.
With the full launch of Harmony OS 4.0 last year, Pure Mode has become a basic protection capability at the bottom of the system, and provides more practical enhanced protection features. After you enable the enhanced protection feature in pure mode, you cannot install apps that fail security detection in AppGallery, and apps that have been installed but are detected to be risky cannot run. In 2023, the enhanced protection function of pure mode has covered nearly 300 million users, and more than 18 million users have enabled the enhanced protection function, which further makes illegal applications have nowhere to hide, and effectively protects the rights and interests of users and their experience perception.
In the era of mobile Internet, applications form the foundation of intelligent experience, but there are also weak links that may affect user experience. As a bridge between applications and users, AppGallery takes the initiative to protect user privacy and application security, and actively standardizes the application industry ecosystem through technical means and protection policies, ensuring the privacy and security of hundreds of millions of users around the clock.