Google App Allows Creditors To Block Funded Phones

But the app was not supposed to be available in the United States, the company said, according to the XDA report.

Google, in an update to the XDA story, called the silent launch of the app on Google Play a bug and said the app was not meant to be released that way.

Google said it launched Device Lock Controller with Kenya-based Safaricom. In a July blog post, Google discussed Safaricom’s launch of its “Lipa Mdogo Mdogo” or “Bitwise Payment” service, which allows Kenyans to purchase a phone and pay for it in installments. Safaricom, on its FAQ page, said the device would crash after four days without payments.

The app, according to the report, used Android’s DeviceAdminService application programming interface (API) to control device functions remotely. Employers also often use the API to control what employees can do on their work phones. These apps are typically preloaded so that employees don’t have a method to disable them.

The XDA report noted that a creditor, when lending a phone to a customer, could preload the app in the same way. Then, if the customer is late on a payment, the creditor could lock the user on their phone.

Earlier this year, PayJoy, a startup focused on helping people in emerging markets buy smartphones, raised $ 20 million in venture funds to further that goal. The company achieves its goals of putting smartphones in the hands of people through installment payments, with the goal of achieving financial inclusion that could become more real if more people have access to smartphones.

Google Pay earlier this month added 89 banks that support its services, furthering its trend to incorporate financial institutions in the US The tech giant’s app store now has nearly 3,000 financial institutions.