{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4408323669","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tmc.2025.3550121","title":"Detecting and Characterising Mobile App Metamorphosis in Google Play Store","display_name":"Detecting and Characterising Mobile App Metamorphosis in Google Play Store","publication_year":2025,"publication_date":"2025-03-11","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4408323669","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tmc.2025.3550121"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/tmc.2025.3550121","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tmc.2025.3550121","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S69141925","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing","issn_l":"1536-1233","issn":["1536-1233","1558-0660","2161-9875"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing","raw_type":"journal-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":false,"oa_status":"closed","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5083901377","display_name":"Dishanika Denipitiyage","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8717-098X"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I129604602","display_name":"The University of Sydney","ror":"https://ror.org/0384j8v12","country_code":"AU","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]}],"countries":["AU"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Dishanika Denipitiyage","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia","School of Computer science, University of Sydney, Australia"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8717-098X","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer science, University of Sydney, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Bhanuka Silva","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6558-6514"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I129604602","display_name":"The University of Sydney","ror":"https://ror.org/0384j8v12","country_code":"AU","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]}],"countries":["AU"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Bhanuka Silva","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia","School of Computer science, University of Sydney, Australia"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6558-6514","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer science, University of Sydney, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5115771697","display_name":"K. Gunathilaka","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I195740183","display_name":"University of Moratuwa","ror":"https://ror.org/0491f5305","country_code":"LK","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I195740183"]}],"countries":["LK"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Kavishka Gunathilaka","raw_affiliation_strings":["Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka","Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0349-2081","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I195740183"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I195740183"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5038376039","display_name":"Suranga Seneviratne","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5485-5595"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I129604602","display_name":"The University of Sydney","ror":"https://ror.org/0384j8v12","country_code":"AU","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]}],"countries":["AU"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Suranga Seneviratne","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia","School of Computer science, University of Sydney, Australia"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5485-5595","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer science, University of Sydney, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Anirban Mahanti","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I129604602","display_name":"The University of Sydney","ror":"https://ror.org/0384j8v12","country_code":"AU","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]}],"countries":["AU"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Anirban Mahanti","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia","School of Computer science, University of Sydney, Australia"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer science, University of Sydney, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I129604602"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5031507494","display_name":"Aruna Seneviratne","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6894-7987"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I31746571","display_name":"UNSW Sydney","ror":"https://ror.org/03r8z3t63","country_code":"AU","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I31746571"]}],"countries":["AU"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Aruna Seneviratne","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia","University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6894-7987","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I31746571"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I31746571"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5037947876","display_name":"Sanjay Chawla","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8102-2572"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210144839","display_name":"Hamad bin Khalifa University","ror":"https://ror.org/03eyq4y97","country_code":"QA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I4210144839"]}],"countries":["QA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Sanjay Chawla","raw_affiliation_strings":["Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar","Qatar Computing Research InstituteHamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210144839"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Qatar Computing Research InstituteHamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210144839"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":3,"institutions_distinct_count":4,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.05048766,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":"24","issue":"8","first_page":"7489","last_page":"7504"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12799","display_name":"Mobile and Web Applications","score":0.9728999733924866,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12799","display_name":"Mobile and Web Applications","score":0.9728999733924866,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12016","display_name":"Web Data Mining and Analysis","score":0.9491999745368958,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11197","display_name":"Digital Games and Media","score":0.9435999989509583,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3312","display_name":"Sociology and Political Science"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/computer-science","display_name":"Computer science","score":0.7849926352500916},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/mobile-apps","display_name":"Mobile apps","score":0.5886517763137817},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/app-store","display_name":"App store","score":0.5263182520866394},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/metamorphosis","display_name":"Metamorphosis","score":0.4807719588279724},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/mobile-computing","display_name":"Mobile computing","score":0.45529937744140625},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/world-wide-web","display_name":"World Wide Web","score":0.44954389333724976},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/operating-system","display_name":"Operating system","score":0.20081421732902527}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.7849926352500916},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2988145974","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q620615","display_name":"Mobile apps","level":2,"score":0.5886517763137817},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779794324","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814081","display_name":"App store","level":2,"score":0.5263182520866394},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C136397037","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33753","display_name":"Metamorphosis","level":3,"score":0.4807719588279724},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C144543869","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2738570","display_name":"Mobile computing","level":2,"score":0.45529937744140625},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C136764020","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q466","display_name":"World Wide Web","level":1,"score":0.44954389333724976},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C111919701","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9135","display_name":"Operating system","level":1,"score":0.20081421732902527},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C173758957","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q129270","display_name":"Larva","level":2,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C86803240","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q420","display_name":"Biology","level":0,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C59822182","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q441","display_name":"Botany","level":1,"score":0.0}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1109/tmc.2025.3550121","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tmc.2025.3550121","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S69141925","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing","issn_l":"1536-1233","issn":["1536-1233","1558-0660","2161-9875"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing","raw_type":"journal-article"}],"best_oa_location":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320315885","display_name":"Australian Government","ror":"https://ror.org/0314h5y94"}],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":42,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W611416841","https://openalex.org/W1449208847","https://openalex.org/W1578479379","https://openalex.org/W1586261963","https://openalex.org/W1964241047","https://openalex.org/W1971497680","https://openalex.org/W2007857904","https://openalex.org/W2041276426","https://openalex.org/W2064038877","https://openalex.org/W2096196901","https://openalex.org/W2110889728","https://openalex.org/W2111525908","https://openalex.org/W2141554582","https://openalex.org/W2205158099","https://openalex.org/W2314180245","https://openalex.org/W2510008933","https://openalex.org/W2551244268","https://openalex.org/W2593474785","https://openalex.org/W2602930571","https://openalex.org/W2605225222","https://openalex.org/W2775487604","https://openalex.org/W2897615540","https://openalex.org/W2904583559","https://openalex.org/W2914751159","https://openalex.org/W2963055823","https://openalex.org/W2994833092","https://openalex.org/W2998702515","https://openalex.org/W3042068230","https://openalex.org/W3044169178","https://openalex.org/W3133963303","https://openalex.org/W3185191462","https://openalex.org/W4220924463","https://openalex.org/W4236930065","https://openalex.org/W4313029666","https://openalex.org/W4315750589","https://openalex.org/W4385570547","https://openalex.org/W6755207826","https://openalex.org/W6763701032","https://openalex.org/W6776148200","https://openalex.org/W6784333009","https://openalex.org/W6796619903","https://openalex.org/W7053251034"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W3142571737","https://openalex.org/W2890710341","https://openalex.org/W4387360127","https://openalex.org/W2605037362","https://openalex.org/W3173766926","https://openalex.org/W3120409491","https://openalex.org/W785354139","https://openalex.org/W2734633251","https://openalex.org/W4226085607","https://openalex.org/W2011781116"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"App":[0],"markets":[1],"have":[2],"evolved":[3],"into":[4],"highly":[5],"competitive":[6],"and":[7,24,60,70,96,137],"dynamic":[8],"environments":[9],"for":[10,21,108],"developers.":[11],"While":[12],"the":[13,78,134],"traditional":[14],"app":[15,109],"life":[16],"cycle":[17],"involves":[18],"incremental":[19],"updates":[20],"feature":[22],"enhancements":[23],"issue":[25],"resolution,":[26],"some":[27],"apps":[28,67,120],"deviate":[29],"from":[30],"this":[31,46,54],"norm":[32],"by":[33],"undergoing":[34,68],"significant":[35],"transformations":[36,103],"in":[37],"their":[38],"use":[39],"cases":[40],"or":[41],"market":[42],"positioning.":[43],"We":[44],"define":[45],"previously":[47],"unstudied":[48],"phenomenon":[49],"as":[50,106],"\u2018app":[51],"metamorphosis'.":[52],"In":[53],"paper,":[55],"we":[56,130],"propose":[57],"a":[58],"novel":[59],"efficient":[61],"multi-modal":[62],"search":[63],"methodology":[64,87],"to":[65,73],"identify":[66],"metamorphosis":[69,90],"apply":[71],"it":[72],"analyse":[74],"two":[75],"snapshots":[76],"of":[77],"Google":[79],"Play":[80],"Store":[81],"taken":[82],"five":[83],"years":[84],"apart.":[85],"Our":[86],"uncovers":[88],"various":[89],"scenarios,":[91],"including":[92],"re-births,":[93],"re-branding,":[94],"re-purposing,":[95],"others,":[97],"enabling":[98],"comprehensive":[99],"characterisation.":[100],"Although":[101],"these":[102],"may":[104],"register":[105],"successful":[107],"developers":[110],"based":[111],"on":[112,133],"our":[113],"defined":[114],"success":[115],"score":[116],"metric":[117],"(e.g.,":[118],"re-branded":[119],"performing":[121],"approximately":[122],"11.3%":[123],"better":[124],"than":[125],"an":[126],"average":[127],"top":[128],"app),":[129],"shed":[131],"light":[132],"concealed":[135],"security":[136],"privacy":[138],"risks":[139],"that":[140],"lurk":[141],"within,":[142],"potentially":[143],"impacting":[144],"even":[145],"tech-savvy":[146],"end-users.":[147]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-03-27T05:58:40.876381","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}
