{"id":227463,"date":"2025-01-30T05:25:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T05:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/google-rolls-out-verified-badge-for-trusted-vpn-apps-on-play-store\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T05:25:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T05:25:25","slug":"google-rolls-out-verified-badge-for-trusted-vpn-apps-on-play-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/google-rolls-out-verified-badge-for-trusted-vpn-apps-on-play-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Rolls Out Verified Badge for Trusted VPN Apps on Play Store"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/i.gadgets360cdn.com\/large\/play_store_masa_level_2_1738210155679.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Google Rolls Out Verified Badge for Trusted VPN Apps on Play Store\" title=\"Google Rolls Out Verified Badge for Trusted VPN Apps on Play Store\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"center_content_div\">\n<div class=\"content_text row description\">\n<p><a class=\"sp_lnk2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/tags\/google\">Google<\/a> on Tuesday announced a new way for users to identify \u2018trusted&#8217; apps and make informed choices on the <a class=\"sp_lnk2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/tags\/play-store\">Play Store<\/a>. Consumer-facing VPN apps that meet the user privacy and safety standards will now appear with a verified badge, in compliance with the Mountain View-based technology company&#8217;s Play safety and security guidelines. Currently, NordVPN and Aloha Browser are some of the apps which are available with the verified badge on the Google Play Store.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"verified-badge-for-vpn-apps\">Verified Badge for VPN Apps<\/h2>\n<p>In a blog <a class=\"sp_lnk2\" href=\"https:\/\/android-developers.googleblog.com\/2025\/01\/helping-users-find-trusted-apps-on-google-play.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">post<\/a>, Google highlighted that its new verified badge for <a class=\"sp_lnk2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/tags\/vpn\">VPN<\/a> apps complements existing features like Google Play Store banner for VPNs and Play&#8217;s Data safety declaration. Verified VPN apps will now be highlighted in search results, on app details pages, and in a dedicated section listing approved VPNs. To earn the verified badge, apps must meet the following criteria:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><cite>Complete a Mobile Application Security Assessment (MASA) Level 2 validation<\/cite><\/li>\n<li><cite>Have an Organization developer account type<\/cite><\/li>\n<li><cite>Meet target API level requirements for Google Play apps<\/cite><\/li>\n<li><cite>Have at least 10,000 installs and 250 reviews<\/cite><\/li>\n<li><cite>Be published on Google Play for at least 90 days<\/cite><\/li>\n<li><cite>Submit a Data Safety section declaration, opting into:<\/cite>\n<div class=\"sp_only-ul-ol sp_only-ul-ol-2\">\n<ul>\n<li><cite>Independent security review, under \u2018Additional badges&#8217;<\/cite><\/li>\n<li><cite>Encryption in transit<\/cite><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\" style=\"display: inline;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ins_instory_dv_caption\">Google Play&#8217;s MASA AL2 Lab Evaluation<br \/><span class=\"ins_instory_span_credit\">Photo Credit: Google<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One of the first steps is to successfully undergo the Mobile Application Security Assessment (MASA) Level 2. Google&#8217;s lab evaluates public versions of apps, provides assessment feedback and remediation steps for flagged issues directly to developers. While this doesn&#8217;t guarantee approval, Google says fulfilling the aforementioned requirements \u201csignificantly\u201d enhances the chances of earning the badge.<\/p>\n<p>The company claims a verified badge can help developers enhance their app&#8217;s credibility and attract more users. Currently, <a class=\"sp_lnk2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/tags\/nordvpn\">NordVPN<\/a>, hide.me, and Aloha Browsers are some of the VPN apps on Google Play Store listed with the badge, helping them stand out in a \u201cfairly crowded\u201d marketplace.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"downloadtxt margin_b20\">\n                For the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/news\">tech news<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/reviews\">reviews<\/a>, follow Gadgets 360 on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gadgets360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">X<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/gadgets360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaB3o5hHltY9SJbXg335\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@gadgets.360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Threads<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMILm3AowtoHPAQ?hl=en-IN&amp;gl=IN&amp;ceid=IN%3Aen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Google News<\/a>. 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If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whosthat360.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Who&#8217;sThat360<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/whosthat360\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WhosThat360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">YouTube<\/a>.            <\/p>\n<div class=\"story_nextprv\">\n<div class=\"left_story\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/mobiles\/news\/nothing-phone-3a-pro-launch-march-4-specifications-report-7591960\"><br \/>\n                <i class=\"sprite\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"story_image\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/static\/desktop\/images\/spacer.png\" data-original=\"https:\/\/i.gadgets360cdn.com\/large\/nothing_phone_2a_plus_thumb_1724401165848.jpg?downsize=90:68&amp;output-quality=70\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"68\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\n                <\/div>\n<p>                <span>Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro Tipped to Launch on March 4: Report<\/span><br \/>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<div class=\"right_story\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/cryptocurrency\/news\/budget-2025-crypto-industry-expectations-digital-assets-taxes-7592425\"><br \/>\n                <i class=\"sprite\"\/><br \/>\n                <span>Budget 2025: Crypto Industry Seeks Digital Asset Innovation, Simple Tax Structure and More<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"story_image\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/static\/desktop\/images\/spacer.png\" data-original=\"https:\/\/i.gadgets360cdn.com\/large\/bitcoin_india_stock_unsplash_small_1632302499685.jpg?downsize=90:68&amp;output-quality=70\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"68\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\n                <\/div>\n<p>            <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gadgets360.com\/apps\/news\/play-store-vpn-apps-verified-badge-google-7592204#rss-gadgets-news\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google on Tuesday announced a new way for users to identify \u2018trusted&#8217; apps and make informed choices on the Play Store. Consumer-facing VPN apps that meet the user privacy and safety standards will now appear with a verified badge, in compliance with the Mountain View-based technology company&#8217;s Play safety and security guidelines. Currently, NordVPN and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.gadgets360cdn.com\/large\/play_store_masa_level_2_1738210155679.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[4351,6130,81562,1098,123933,1557,178480,4157,9354,40357,16952,70343,178481],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227465,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227463\/revisions\/227465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}