ESET Mobile Security (Android) now requires Google account sign-in

[chileverde 2]

I think this started after upgrade to v. 8.1.17.0. Now the app wants me to sign into the Google Play Store with a Google account.

I have been using the free version of ESET Mobile Security on my Android phone for well over a year. The free version for Android worked well and met my needs. (I pay for ESET Internet Security for 5 computers.)

I originally installed from the Aurora Store, which uses an anonymous Google account. Since this problem occurred, I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, again from the Aurora Store, but it still demands that I sign into a Google account.

I value privacy, and as it is well known that Google does not, I have never signed into a Google account with this phone and do not intend to. Why is ESET requiring a Google sign-in to use this app? I have been a paying customer of other ESET products for 17 years and cannot understand why you would require customers to share information with Google to use this product.

[chileverde 2]

Uninstalled the new version. Downloaded v. 8.0.39.0-15 from APKPure. Required an ESET Home account, which is fine with me. Offers Google (or Apple, I think) login as an alternative. I am using it with an ESET Home account.

I hope ESET will go back to this approach with future versions.

[Marcos 5,074]

I've inquired developers about that and they claimed that using Google play or Google account is not mandatory. From https://www.eset.com/int/home/mobile-security-android/ you can download ESET Mobile Security instead from Google Play if you don't use it.

Also when associating the product with your ESET HOME account you have 2 options: 1, log in via a Google account, 2, entering your ESET HOME email and password so again, using a Google account is not mandatory.

[chileverde 2]

Marcos, Thanks for looking into this. However, the information you provided is no solution.

First, I went to the web page you provided. It has four download links—three go to the Google Play Store (which, of course, requires logging into Google) and one goes to the Apple Store (not relevant for me). I even tried logging into my ESET Home account from that page and navigating to where I could download the mobile app, and I was taken to the Google Play Store.

But actually, none of the above answers my problem. I don't need help downloading the app. Aurora Store downloaded the new version and installed it on my phone. The problem is when I open the new version the first time, it directs me to the Google Play Store login page. Occasionally it will briefly (for a fraction of a second) flash the opening page for ESET Mobile Security, which asks the user to choose a country and language. Then it goes back to displaying the Google Play Store login.

So I uninstalled the current version and, as I reported previously, downloaded an APK file for v. 8.0.39.0-15 from APKPure. I installed it, and it worked fine. (It did not require a Google login.) Later, I let Aurora store update the program to the current version, and once again, when I opened it the first time after the upgrade, it took me to the Google Play Store login page.

The developers should try installing the new version on a phone that is not logged into Google in any way. If they cannot reproduce my experience, they should try it on a phone that has never logged into a Google account. To be clear, I have Google Play Store and Google Services running on my phone, but I have never logged into a Google account on it.

Regarding the second paragraph of your response, as I said in my original post, I realize I can enter ESET Home credentials once I get to the ESET login page, which is what I did with the previous version. The problem is when I open v. 8.1.17.0 for the first time after installing, I am shown the Play Store login page, which, of course, accepts only a Google account. I hope I have made the issue clearer.

[Marcos 5,074]

You're right, a correct download link for the non-Google play version is available in the KB https://support.eset.com/en/kb6563.

As for login into your ESET HOME account, there's an option to log in with your ESET HOME email address and password:

[chileverde 2]

The last link you posted does indeed lead to a place where I could download an APK file called simply ems.apk. When I installed it, it indicated it conflicted with "ESET Mobile Security", meaning the version I had downloaded from APKPure. (It did not upgrade that installation). I uninstalled the app as downloaded from APKPure and proceeded to set up the version downloaded from ESET with your link. So far, so good. It did not require login to Google. In fact, besides to option to sign into an ESET Home account (which I did), if offered an option not to sign into any account and just provide an email for notifications from ESET.

However, after setting it up and running my first scan, I checked the version and found it is not the current version. The APK I downloaded from ESET is v. 8.0.39.0-16. By comparison, the version I downloaded from APKPure is v. 8.0.39.0-15, and the version installed from the Aurora Store (which required Google login) is v. 8.1.17.0. So I still don't have the latest version.

I am not going to spend more time on this now. I hope that at some point ESET will make it easy for me to run the latest version without logging into Google. I did find a place under Settings where I can tap Update. It says "Version: 8.0.39.0 (up-to-date)." Maybe at some point I will be able to use this option to update this installation to v. 8.1.17.0.

Thanks for looking into this.

[peteyt 393]

On 6/28/2023 at 11:49 PM, chileverde said:

The last link you posted does indeed lead to a place where I could download an APK file called simply ems.apk. When I installed it, it indicated it conflicted with "ESET Mobile Security", meaning the version I had downloaded from APKPure. (It did not upgrade that installation). I uninstalled the app as downloaded from APKPure and proceeded to set up the version downloaded from ESET with your link. So far, so good. It did not require login to Google. In fact, besides to option to sign into an ESET Home account (which I did), if offered an option not to sign into any account and just provide an email for notifications from ESET.

However, after setting it up and running my first scan, I checked the version and found it is not the current version. The APK I downloaded from ESET is v. 8.0.39.0-16. By comparison, the version I downloaded from APKPure is v. 8.0.39.0-15, and the version installed from the Aurora Store (which required Google login) is v. 8.1.17.0. So I still don't have the latest version.

I am not going to spend more time on this now. I hope that at some point ESET will make it easy for me to run the latest version without logging into Google. I did find a place under Settings where I can tap Update. It says "Version: 8.0.39.0 (up-to-date)." Maybe at some point I will be able to use this option to update this installation to v. 8.1.17.0.

Thanks for looking into this.

Could be that what you had previously downloaded is the beta version. I'm signed up to the beta version via the Play Store and it shows me on 8.1.17.0-83 so it might simply be that the store you used offers the beta version without having to sign up.

[chileverde 2]

6 hours ago, peteyt said:

Could be that what you had previously downloaded is the beta version. I'm signed up to the beta version via the Play Store and it shows me on 8.1.17.0-83 so it might simply be that the store you used offers the beta version without having to sign up.

I doubt it. Never had this problem after updating ESET through the Aurora Store.

[peteyt 393]

17 hours ago, chileverde said:

I doubt it. Never had this problem after updating ESET through the Aurora Store.

That's my point though. The aurora store might always supply the beta version rather than the stable version so when you've downloaded directly via the eset link you've downloaded the stable version