One of our favourite features of the Android OS is the sheer amount of free apps that you can download from the Google Play Store. These apps normally work on an advertising basis with in-app ads and it’s something that over the years we have all become accustomed too.
However, that doesn’t stop us from getting frustrated when one slip of the finger sees us click on an unwanted advert to then be directed away from the app (most likely to be a time wasting game) and to watch our phone log onto some random site.
Well Google obviously share our distain for this as the company who makes Android are now putting some action in place to stop accidental ad clicking.
This should remove those unwanted web page visits by making sure that users confirm that clicks were purposefully pressed, which obviously they weren’t.
Google stated: “We find that most accidental clicks on in-app image ads happen at the outer edge of the ad unit, likely when you’re trying to click or scroll to nearby content. Now if you click on the outer border of the ad, we’ll prompt you to verify that you actually meant to click on the ad to learn more.”
This is a big change up in the way that free apps will be monetised, as many companies who rely on the click through will change but we as users can be assured that Google is getting on our side and that this is only the beginning. As devices continue to converge there will be new challenges in the fight against what many have called the ‘fat finger’ problem.