Google removed almost half of all apps from Google Play

Google Play Store has lost almost half of its apps since the beginning of the year. According to TechCrunch, based on data from Appfigures analysts, the number of available apps in the popular Android store has sharply decreased from 3.4 million to 1.8 million. Thus, the catalog has "slimmed down" by an impressive 47%.

Such a dramatic reduction in assortment stands out against the general trends in the mobile app market. While Google Play is experiencing a large-scale "cleanup," the competing Apple App Store demonstrates the opposite dynamic – a small but stable growth from 1.6 million to 1.64 million apps over the same period. However, for Google's ecosystem, such changes are positive in nature. Users now less frequently encounter fraudulent schemes, spam, and low-quality content, which previously often occupied leading positions in search results. Honest developers have received more fair conditions for competition and improved visibility for their products.

For a long time, Google Play differed significantly from the App Store with a more liberal approach to reviewing apps before their publication, relying on automated procedures and scanning for malicious code to speed up the process. This led to the store being flooded with products of questionable quality. Apple, on the other hand, traditionally adhered to a stricter policy with mandatory manual moderation.

The situation changed dramatically in July 2024, when Google announced a significant tightening of minimum quality requirements for apps. Now the path to the store is closed not only for defective apps that work with errors, fail to install, or regularly "crash," but also for projects with limited functionality or minimal content.