Google Play's Big Cleanup: What Happened to Millions of Apps?

The Google Play Store has seen a massive drop in the number of apps it hosts. From the beginning of 2024, the number of apps available for Android users worldwide fell from about 3. 4 million to around 1. 8 million. That is a significant decrease of about 47%. This change is not a global trend. Apple's iOS App Store, for example, saw a slight increase in the same period, going from 1. 6 million apps to about 1. 64 million. This drop in apps could be good news for Android users. It might mean fewer low-quality, scammy, or spammy apps to sort through. For developers, it could mean less competition for visibility. Over time, Google Play has had a reputation for being less strict about app reviews. This has led to a lot of lower-quality apps flooding the marketplace. Apple, on the other hand, has always had strict app review measures. In July 2024, Google announced new rules to raise the minimum quality requirements for apps. This could have played a big role in the number of apps available. Google started banning apps that had "limited functionality and content. " This included apps that were basically just text or PDF files, or those that only offered a single wallpaper. Apps that had no function at all were also banned. These could have been tests or abandoned projects by developers.

Google confirmed that its new policies were a factor in the app decline. These policies included expanded verification requirements, required app testing for new personal developer accounts, and more human reviews to check for deceptive or fraudulent apps. Google also invested in AI for threat detection, stronger privacy policies, and improved developer tools. As a result, Google prevented 2. 36 million policy-violating apps from being published and banned more than 158, 000 developer accounts that tried to publish harmful apps. One thing Google did not mention was the new EU rule requiring developers to share their names and addresses in the app’s listing. Developers who did not comply saw their apps removed from EU app stores. Interestingly, Apple also started requiring this information in February but did not see a decline in available apps. Appfigures, the firm that tracked these changes, noticed a decline in the number of apps on the Google Play Store even before the official start of the purge last summer. They do not have an explanation for this early decline. However, they reported that there have been 10. 4K releases on Google Play so far this year, up 7. 1% year-over-year as of April.

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