Google Play experiences a 47% drop in the number of apps since the beginning of last year.

The Google Play app market has experienced a notable decrease in the number of available applications. From the beginning of 2024 to date, the number of apps on this platform has dropped from approximately 3.4 million to around 1.8 million, according to an analysis conducted by an app intelligence provider. This represents a reduction of 47%, marking a significant purge of apps accessible to Android users worldwide.

This decline is not part of a broader global trend, as during the same period, Apple's App Store showed a slight variation, increasing from 1.6 million to around 1.64 million apps. For Android device owners, the reduction could be seen as a relief, as it makes it easier to search for quality apps, avoiding those that are fraudulent, spam, or low quality. Furthermore, this decrease could be beneficial for developers struggling to gain visibility in a saturated market.

Over the years, Google Play's less stringent requirements for app review contributed to the presence of numerous low-quality applications in the store. While Apple has maintained a rigorous app review process before publication, Google has opted for a more automated approach, speeding up the process with malware scans and reduced human reviews. In July 2024, Google announced it would increase the minimum quality requirements for apps, which may have influenced the number of listings available in the Play Store. The company would set aside only those apps that failed, wouldn’t install, or didn’t function properly, and would start removing those displaying “limited functionality and content,” such as static apps, single-text apps, or those offering little content.

Google has also discontinued apps that did not serve a clear purpose, including some that may have been tests or abandoned efforts by developers. The company confirmed that its new policies were factors in this reduction, which also included an expanded set of verification requirements, mandatory testing for new personal developer accounts, and more thorough reviews to detect apps trying to deceive or defraud users.

Additionally, the company has invested in artificial intelligence for threat detection, strengthened its privacy policies, improved developer tools, and more. As a result, Google managed to prevent the publication of 2.36 million apps that violated its policies and suspended more than 158,000 developer accounts attempting to publish harmful apps.

One aspect not mentioned by Google is the new merchant status regulation imposed by the EU since February, which requires developers to share their names and addresses in their app listings. Those who fail to comply with this requirement would see their apps removed from app stores in the EU. It is worth noting that Apple also introduced this requirement in February, without resulting in a decrease in available apps.

Finally, previous declines in the number of apps on Google Play were observed even before the official purge began last summer, although the exact cause of this change has not yet been determined. Nevertheless, 10,400 releases have been recorded on Google Play so far this year, representing a 7.1% increase compared to the previous year up to April.