Google Play's App Marketplace has lost its app.
From its launch in 2024 until now, the Android App Marketplace has moved from around 1.8 million from around 3.4 million apps worldwide, according to a new analysis from App Intelligence Provider Appfigures. This is about a 47% decrease, representing a significant purging of apps available worldwide by Android users.
The decline is not part of some larger global trends, the company noted. During the same period, Apple's iOS App Store hosted 1.6 million apps, to just 1.64 million apps, for example. For example, a slight increase.
For Google, a reduction in apps can be a relief for Android device owners who have had to organize scammers, spam and other poorly-quality apps to find the best app to install. This reduction could help developers who had to fight for visibility.
Over the years, strict requirements for reviewing Google Play apps have led to market overruns with lower quality apps. While Apple continues to force strict app review measurements before it is published, Google relies on automatic checks in conjunction with malware scans to speed up the app review process. From a human review perspective, the app's review period tends to be shorter as a result of lighter touches.
In July 2024, Google announced that it would raise the minimum quality requirements for its apps. This may have affected the number of available Play Store app listings.
Instead of banning only broken apps that have crashed, do not install or run properly, the company said it would launch a ban on apps that show “limited functionality and content.” This includes static apps that do not have app-specific features, such as text-only apps and PDF file apps. It also included apps that offered little content, such as those that only offered a single wallpaper. Furthermore, Google has banned apps that are designed or have no functionality to do anything.
Upon reaching the comment, Google confirmed that the new policy was a factor here. This includes extending human reviews to check for enhanced set of validation requirements, required app testing for new personal developer accounts, and apps that deceive or scam users.
Additionally, the company pointed out other 2024 investments in AI, including threat detection, a stronger privacy policy and improved developer tools. As a result, Google said it had prevented apps that use the 2.36 million policy from being published on the Play Store and banned more than 158,000 developer accounts that tried to publish harmful apps.
One factor Google wasn't citing was the new trader status rules enacted by the EU as of February, which began requiring developers to share names and addresses in their lists of apps. Those who don't do so will see the app being removed from the EU app store. (It's worth pointing out that Apple began requesting trader status information in February, and as a result, there was no decrease in the number of available apps.)
AppFigures has yet to explain this change, in addition to the number of apps on the Google Play Store, even before the official launch last summer. However, the company said it has released 10.4K on Google Play so far this year, with a 7.1% increase from the previous year since April.