Google Play’s app marketplace is losing apps.
From the start of 2024 to present, the android app marketplace went from hosting about 3.4 million apps worldwide to just Around 1.8 Million, According to a New Analysis by App Intelligence by provider provider AppfiguresThat’s a decline of about 47%, represent a significant purge of the apps that have been available to android users globally.
The decline is not part of some larger global trend, the firm also notes. During the same period, Apple’s iOS App Store Went from Hosting 1.6 Million Apps to Now just Around 1.64 Million Apps, For Instructions – A Slight Increase.
In Google’s case, the decline in apps could be a reliable for Android device owners who have had had to So Sort Through SCAMMY, Spammy, and OtherWise POR -QUALITY APEPS to Find the Best Ones to Instill. The Reduction Could also help developers who have had to fight for visibility.
Over the Years, Google Play’s Less Stringent Requirements for App review from While Apple Continues to Enforce Striat App Review Measures Befores Befores Publication, Google often Relies on Automated Checks Combined with Malware Scans to Speed Up The App The App The App The app review Processes. It tends to have a shortr app review period as a result of its lighter touch in terms of human review.
In July 2024, Google Announced it would Raise the Minimum Quality Requirements For apps, which may have impacted the number of available play store app listings.
INTEAD of only banning broken apps that crashed, or run properly, the company said it would begin banning apps that demonstrated “Limited Functionality and Contenting.” That Included static apps Without app-specific features, such as text-only apps or pdf file apps. It also included apps that provided little content, like that that only offered a single wallpaper. Additionally, Google Banned Apps that was designed to do nothing or have no function, which may have ben tests or other abandoned developer efforts.
Reached for comment, google confirmed that its new policies were factor here, which also included an expanded set of verification requirements, required app testing For new personal developer accounts, and expanded human reviews to check for apps that try to dieve or defraud users.
In addition, the company pointed to other 2024 investments in AI for Threat Detection, Stronger Privacy Policies, Improved Developer Tools, and More. As a result, google prevended 2.36 Million Policy-Vioolating Apps from Being Published on its Play Store and Banned More Than 158,000 developer accounts that have been kept on publish harmful apps, it said.
One Factor Google Didn’T Cite was the New Trader Status Rule Enforced by the Eu as of this februry, which began requires developers to share their names and addresses in the app ‘Listing. Thos who failed to do so would see their apps removed from eu app stores. (IT’s Worth Pointing Out that Apple Also Began Requiring Trader Status Information in February, and did not see a decline in available apps as a result.)
AppFigures Additional Notes It Began Seeing A Decline in the Number of Apps on the Google Play Store even even the official start of the purge last summer; It doesnight have an explanation for this change. However, the firm say there have been released 10.4k releases on google play so far this year, up 7.1% year-over-yar as of april.