Google Play’s app market is shedding apps.
From the beginning of 2024 to current, the Android app market went from internet hosting about 3.4 million apps worldwide to simply round 1.8 million, in response to a brand new evaluation by app intelligence supplier Appfigures. That’s a decline of about 47%, representing a big purge of the apps which were out there to Android customers globally.
The decline shouldn’t be a part of some bigger international development, the agency additionally notes. Throughout the identical interval, Apple’s iOS App Retailer went from internet hosting 1.6 million apps to now simply round 1.64 million apps, for example — a slight enhance.
In Google’s case, the decline in apps may very well be a aid for Android machine homeowners who’ve needed to kind by scammy, spammy, and in any other case poor-quality apps to seek out the very best ones to put in. The discount might additionally assist builders who’ve needed to combat for visibility.
Through the years, Google Play’s much less stringent necessities for app evaluation have led to {the marketplace} being overrun with lower-quality apps. Whereas Apple continues to implement strict app evaluation measures earlier than publication, Google usually depends on automated checks mixed with malware scans to hurry up the app evaluation course of. It tends to have a shorter app evaluation interval on account of its lighter contact by way of human evaluation.
In July 2024, Google introduced it might raise the minimum quality requirements for apps, which can have impacted the variety of out there Play Retailer app listings.
As a substitute of solely banning damaged apps that crashed, wouldn’t set up, or run correctly, the corporate mentioned it might start banning apps that demonstrated “restricted performance and content material.” That included static apps with out app-specific options, reminiscent of text-only apps or PDF file apps. It additionally included apps that supplied little content material, like people who solely provided a single wallpaper. Moreover, Google banned apps that have been designed to do nothing or don’t have any perform, which can have been exams or different deserted developer efforts.
Reached for remark, Google confirmed that its new insurance policies have been components right here, which additionally included an expanded set of verification requirements, required app testing for brand spanking new private developer accounts, and expanded human reviews to test for apps that attempt to deceive or defraud customers.
As well as, the corporate pointed to different 2024 investments in AI for risk detection, stronger privateness insurance policies, improved developer instruments, and extra. Because of this, Google prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being revealed on its Play Retailer and banned greater than 158,000 developer accounts that had tried to publish dangerous apps, it mentioned.
One issue Google didn’t cite was the brand new dealer standing rule enforced by the EU as of this February, which started requiring builders to share their names and addresses within the app’s itemizing. Those that failed to take action would see their apps faraway from EU app shops. (It’s value declaring that Apple also began requiring trader status data in February, and didn’t see a decline in out there apps in consequence.)
Appfigures moreover notes it started seeing a decline within the variety of apps on the Google Play Retailer even earlier than the official begin of the purge final summer time; it doesn’t but have an evidence for this alteration. Nevertheless, the agency says there have been 10.4K releases on Google Play to date this yr, up 7.1% year-over-year as of April.