Mobile application management

Abstract

Code of a particular application is analyzed against a semantic model of a software development kit of a particular platform. The semantic model associates a plurality of application behaviors with respective application programming interface (API) calls of the particular platform. A set of behaviors of the particular application is identified based on the analysis of the code and a particular one of the set of behaviors is identified as an undesired behavior. The particular application can be automatically modified to remediate the undesired behavior. The particular application can be assigned to one of a plurality of device modes, and access to the particular application on a user device can be based on which of the plurality of device modes is active on the user device.

1 - 74 . (canceled) 
     
     
         75 . At least one machine accessible storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed on a machine, cause the machine to:
 analyze code of a particular application against a semantic model of a software development kit of a particular platform, wherein the semantic model associates a plurality of application behaviors with respective application programming interface (API) calls of the particular platform;   identify, based on the analysis of the code, a set of behaviors of the particular application; and   identify that a particular one of the set of behaviors is an undesired behavior.   
     
     
         76 . The storage medium of  claim 75 , wherein identifying that the particular behavior is an undesired behavior includes determining that the one or more behaviors violate one or more rules. 
     
     
         77 . The storage medium of  claim 76 , wherein the rules are associated with a particular user. 
     
     
         78 . The storage medium of  claim 77 , wherein at least a portion of the rules include rules defined by the particular user. 
     
     
         79 . The storage medium of  claim 76 , wherein the rules are associated with a network service provider. 
     
     
         80 . The storage medium of  claim 75 , wherein a user input identifies that the particular behavior is undesired. 
     
     
         81 . The storage medium of  claim 80 , wherein the user input is received in connection with a user interface displaying human readable descriptions of the identified set of behaviors. 
     
     
         82 . The storage medium of  claim 81 , wherein the human readable description is generated using a template for generating the description and the semantic model. 
     
     
         83 . The storage medium of  claim 75 , wherein the particular user device is one of a smart phone and a tablet computing device. 
     
     
         84 . A method comprising:
 analyzing code of a particular application against a semantic model of a software development kit of a particular platform, the semantic model associating a plurality of application behaviors with respective application programming interface (API) calls of the particular platform;   identifying, based on the analysis of the code, a set of behaviors of the particular application; and   identifying that a particular one of the set of behaviors is an undesired behavior.   
     
     
         85 . The method of  claim 84 , further comprising disassembling code of the particular application into a control flow and generating a model of application logic for the particular application based at least in part on the semantic model. 
     
     
         86 . The method of  claim 85 , wherein the model of application logic is further based, at least in part, on ambient application knowledge. 
     
     
         87 . The method of  claim 84 , further comprising performing a remediation action based on the identification that one or more of the set of behaviors are undesired behaviors. 
     
     
         88 . The method of  claim 84 , wherein the code of the particular application is analyzed in connection with an attempt to implement the particular application on a particular user device. 
     
     
         89 . The method of  claim 88 , further comprising restricting implementation of the particular application on the particular user device based on identifying that one or more of the set of behaviors are undesired behaviors. 
     
     
         90 . The method of  claim 89 , wherein restricting implementation includes blocking installation of the particular application on the particular user device. 
     
     
         91 . The method of  claim 89 , wherein restricting implementation includes assigning the particular application to a device mode that is to limit access to the particular application. 
     
     
         92 . The method of  claim 89 , further comprising modifying code of the particular application to remediate the undesired behavior. 
     
     
         93 . A system comprising:
 at least one processor device;   at least one memory element; and   an application behavioral analysis engine, adapted when executed by the at least one processor device to:
 analyze code of a particular application against a semantic model of a software development kit of a particular platform, wherein the semantic model associates a plurality of application behaviors with respective application programming interface (API) calls of the particular platform; 
 identify, based on the analysis of the code, a set of behaviors of the particular application; and 
 identify that a particular one of the set of behaviors is an undesired behavior. 
   
     
     
         94 . The system of  claim 93 , further comprising an application healer engine to:
 identify a section of code of the particular application corresponding to the particular behavior; and   perform a remediation action on the section of code to remediate the particular behavior and generate a healed version of the particular application.   
     
     
         95 . The system of  claim 93 , further comprising a mode manager to:
 activate a particular one of a plurality of modes defined for a user device; and   restrict access to the particular application in accordance with the activated particular mode, wherein the particular application is made accessible when another one of the plurality of modes is activated.   
     
     
         96 . The system of  claim 93 , further comprising a user device, wherein the application behavioral analysis engine is to communicate results of the analysis of the code to the user device based on an attempt by the user device to install the particular application on the user device. 
     
     
         97 . A system comprising:
 means for analyzing code of a particular application against a semantic model of a software development kit of a particular platform, the semantic model associating a plurality of application behaviors with respective application programming interface (API) calls of the particular platform;   means for identifying, based on the analysis of the code, a set of behaviors of the particular application; and   means for identifying that a particular one of the set of behaviors is an undesired behavior.