Blackphone to launch world’s first privacy-focused app store

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The company behind the world’s most secure Android handset, the Blackphone, is launching its own app store.
©SGP Technologies -afprelaxnews photo

The Blackphone caused a stealthy stir when it was unveiled in February as the first Android handset developed from the ground up with encryption, data protection and privacy in mind.

Now the company is taking things one step further with a custom app store dedicated to privacy-optimized apps. When it goes live in January 2015 every title available in the Blackphone app store will have been curated and selected specifically by the company. Only the most secure, privacy-optimized apps will make the cut.

But as well as an app store, Blackphone is also releasing a huge update to its PrivatOS operating system that will bring an innovative new feature to its handsets — Spaces.

Spaces will allow owners to create custom zones on their handsets for different uses — for example, a work space, a leisure space and a child-safe space — without risking security. It will mean that there’s no need to carry two phones — a secure one for work and another for social media, pictures of the children and mobile gaming — as Spaces will allow the handset to serve different needs at different times without compromising any of the data it contains.

Although users will be able to create as many or as few spaces as they need, a “Silent Space” will be included by default, developed in partnership with Graphite Software and housing the handset’s suite of specialized encrypted communication apps.

Even without the new features, the Blackphone made Time Magazine’s list of the 25 Best Innovations of 2014 alongside the real-life hoverboard and the Apple Watch. -afprelaxnews