Google reportedly peeks into Android data to gain edge over third-party apps

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Google for several years has collected app-usage data collected from Android phones to develop and advance its own competing apps, a new report alleges.

The project, called Android Lockbox, "collects sensitive Android user data" for use within Google and has been in effect since at least 2013, The Information reports.

An internal team that tracks the worldwide usage of Google's first-party apps "also has used Lockbox data on third-party apps to show executives how Google services were performing compared to rivals," sources told The Information. The data was used earlier this month in India, where Google planned to roll out a competitor app to TikTok.

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