Methods and systems for verifying applications

Abstract

An application installed on a user device (e.g., a mobile device, a smart device, a communication device, a computing device, etc.) may be used to validate, authenticate, and/or authorize another application installed on and/or associated with the user device.

1 . A method comprising:
 sending, by a user device and to a computing device, a request for verification of a first application associated with the user device;   receiving, by a second application associated with the user device, a notification;   determining, by the second application and based on the notification, information associated with the first application;   sending, to the computing device, the information associated with the first application; and   receiving, by the user device and based on the verification of the first application, access information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the access information enables the first application to access a resource. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising accessing, via the first application and based on the access information, a resource. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein sending the information associated with the first application, causes the first application to be verified. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the access information comprises a token. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the notification comprises one or more of a push notification, a wireless access protocol (WAP) push message, a short message service (SMS) message, a binary SMS message, or an enhanced message service (EMS) message. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information associated with the first application comprises one or more of a valid installation signature, an installation date, an installation time, or an application package identifier. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the information associated with the first application comprises sending, to an application package manager associated with the user device, a query. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein sending the information comprises sending, via the second application, the information. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein sending the information further comprises sending at least one of an identifier of the second application or a hash of a nonce associated with the notification. 
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 sending, by a user device and to a computing device, a request to verify a first application associated with the user device;   receiving, by the user device and from a second application associated with a second user device, a request for information associated with the first application;   determining, by the user device and based on the request for the information, the information associated with the first application;   sending, by the user device and to the second application, the information associated with the first application; and   receiving, by the user device and based on a verification of the first application, access information that enables the first application to access a resource.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the request to verify comprises an identifier of the user device that causes the computing device to identify the second application associated with the user device. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the information associated with the first application comprises one or more of a valid installation signature, an installation date, an installation time, or an application package identifier. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the resource comprises data stored on the user device. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the access information comprises a token. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising accessing, via the first application and based on the access information, the resource. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein determining the information associated with the first application comprises sending, to an application package manager associated with the user device, a query. 
     
     
         18 . A method comprising:
 sending, by a user device and to a computing device, a request for verification of a first application associated with the user device;   receiving, by a second application associated with the user device, a notification;   determining, by the second application and based on the notification, information associated with the first application;   sending, by the second application and to the computing device, the information associated with the first application and information associated with the second application; and   receiving, by the first application and based on the verification of the first application, access information that enables the first application to access a resource.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the second application is verified and wherein the information associated with the second application comprises an instance identifier associated with the second application. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the first application is verified based on the information associated with the first application and the information associated with the second application.