DRM May Be Added to All Android Apps

Google has quietly rolled out a feature earlier this week that is adding a string of metadata to all the APK files when they are signed by the developer. While you can’t install the apps that haven’t been signed by the company during the final build so which suggests that there will be a small part of DRM built into the applications, eventually the phones will run on the version of Android that requires DRM to play or view the media content.

Many people are not a fan of DRM since developers and publishers of applications have been known to misuse it. One example of DRM usage would be to install an Origin client and check it regularly to run any games that are published by the EA.

Many companies fear that users are not paying for content that companies publish with most of PC games rife with DRM. While Google may not go crazy like EA have, the company is thinking in a different way where the metadata tag will help Google PlayStore to identify the applications.

Android has a feature that helps it to read the metadata of the applications which is embedded into the application to find if the applications developed are from a legitimate source, if the application passes the checks made by the Android OS then the applications will be automatically added into your Google play library.

Google did this because of two reasons the first one would be that adding DRM will give the app developers more power and control over the application on the clients mobile. In many less affluent countries, many users can’t afford data so they share the apps using a peer to peer method, hence it would be useful for Android OS to check the integrity of the application.