A few months ago, we reported that the AnTuTu app was deleted from the Google Play Store. Actually, it wasn’t just one app. Three related mobile apps were deleted: Antutu Benchmark, AItutu Benchmark, and the Antutu 3DBench. We never found out when the apps were removed exactly from the Play Store but the last sighting of one app was February 22. The last update for the AI benchmark app was February 13. By March, they’re already gone. The move was a result of all other Cheetah Mobile apps being removed because of policy violations.
If there is a way to install the AnTuTu from elsewhere, know that you still can’t because the Google Play Protect service now also blocks the installation. Chrome also now warns users that checking or navigating to AnTuTu’s download page that the website has ‘harmful apps’. There is no official announcement but you can try yourself.
A warning posted by Play Protect says the AnTuTu mobile app “can collect data that could be used to track you”. It’s the same when you’re on Chrome mobile browser. This can be annoying if you really want to check AnTuTu but then Google still doesn’t want you using the benchmark tool.
The latest versions of Play Protect show the said warning. Older versions like 8.3.4 don’t trigger the warning as described. We’re assuming the older Play Protect still lacks the important features in identifying possible malware.
AnTuTu and Google have not made a statement regarding the subject. We’re still curious why Google doesn’t really want AnTuTu. We have an idea but we to hear from Google first.
