1

This is a follow-up to a sequence of earlier posts. The posts have been closed because they did not meet the moderator's expectations. I have new information, and I'm re-posting so that I can answer my own question.

Why is my unpublished app being run remotely? stated that I had modified my app to "phone home" whenever it was being run in debug mode on a device I don't recognize. I received messages indicating the my unpublished code was being run on a server far away. Spyware detected - what to do about it stated that a factory reset on my Android test device prevented the remote reports from happening.

It turns out that the factory reset wasn't sufficient. Once I re-installed my usual software on my Android test devices, the remote reports returned.

1
  • A factory reset was sufficient. The issue was that you reinstalled a security app and that's when you got new reports..
    – schroeder
    Nov 7, 2021 at 13:13

1 Answer 1

1

The remote reports are coming from Lookout Security. When I install Lookout on my phone, the remote reports occur. 10 to 20 minutes after I side-load a new version of my app, I get a notice that my app is being run on a remote server. When I remove Lookout from my phone, the remote reports stop.

If you look on Lookout's website, it's apparent they consider side-loading a major security risk for most users. But they don't provide any details about how they handle it. I've determined that they upload my app to their servers for analysis. This may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view.

I'm not comfortable with undebugged, unobfuscated, unpublished copies of my app being uploaded to a remote server every time I run a test. So I'm removing Lookout. Other developers may want to consider their options.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .