Did you know Google Play App Count Falls 47% to 1.8M While iOS Store Rises Slightly to 1.64M

 

Google Play’s app marketplace continues to witness a decline in app hosting, as shown by recent figures.

From the beginning of 2024 to now, it went from hosting nearly 3.4M globally to just 1.8M as per the latest analysis generated from Appfigures. This is a major 47% fall for platforms that were once accessible to all around the globe.

The fall is not even a part of a global trend, the company shared. During the same timeframe, we saw Apple’s iOS App Store see a rise in app hosting, with figures going from 1.6 million apps to 1.64 million right now. So the increase is small, but it’s definitely a positive one moving in an upward direction.

When we look at Google’s case, the decline in platforms could be a relief for owners of Android apps. They had to go through so much spam, scams, and poorly designed platforms to find which one was the best option for downloads. The fall could also assist developers who found it hard to fight for factors like greater visibility.

Over time, Google Play’s less stringent factors for app reviews might be one leading reason why we’re seeing a rise in poor quality platforms. While the company continues to enforce stricter app review measures before publications, Google tends to place more emphasis on checks done through automated systems that link to malware scans. This speeds up the whole app-review system. This is likely to have shorter app-review periods due to lighter touches in regards to human review.

In July last year, Google shared how it would raise the requirements for app quality, and that would be one fact that could see a decline in Play Store listings. Instead of banning broken-down apps that failed, crashed, or couldn’t run properly, it would now ban them entirely and label them with limited functionality as the reason for exclusion.

This would entail static platforms without any kind of specific features, like text-only platforms or those featuring PDF files. It would also entail apps that give rise to limited content, like those that offer a single wallpaper. Furthermore, Google was banning apps that were created to do nothing or have zero functions. This could be tests or different kinds of abandoned efforts from developers.

Reaching for comments, Google shared how the latest policies were major factors here. It would entail expanded sets for verification. So now, platforms would need app testing for the latest personal developer accounts. This comes with expanded human reviews that check for platforms and try to deceive or defraud others.

Furthermore, the firm pointed to investments made in 2024 in the world of AI for detecting threats, installing stronger policies for privacy, and including enhanced developer tools. This allowed Google to stop 2.3M apps that violated its policies from moving forward and getting featured across the Play Store. Furthermore, it banned nearly 158,000 developer accounts that attempted to publish harmful apps.

One other factor worth mentioning is how Google didn’t speak about the latest trader status law that was shared by the EU. This began forcing developers to share the names and addresses for the app’s listing. Those who failed to do this would see the platforms removed from app stores across the EU. We need to add how Apple also implemented the trader status this February, but didn’t notice any similar plunge in apps available through the App Store.

The figures for apps declining at the Play Store were seen as early as last year in the summer, Appfigures revealed. This means it’s not something new, but proof that it began a while back. Google keeps boasting about how it saw 10,400 releases through Google Play this year, which is a 7% YoY growth for April.