Google cleans up: Number of apps in the Play Store reduced by almost half

Google has apparently carried out a massive spring clean in the Play Store over the past 12 months. According to data from app intelligence provider Appfigures, Google's app marketplace has lost 47% of its apps since the beginning of 2024. A year ago, the Play Store still had around 3.4 million apps on offer – Now there are just 1.8 million.

Play Store clean-up: Google wants more quality

According to Appfigures, the decline in the number of apps on offer is not part of a larger global trend. In the same period, the number of applications in Apple's App Store for iOS increased slightly from 1.6 million to 1.64 million. But Apple has also carried out a clean-up operation: In February 2025, the iPhone manufacturer removed a comparatively manageable number of 137,000 apps from its app offering.

The background to the clean-up campaign is likely to be Google's increase in the minimum quality requirements for apps in the Play Store, which the company announced in July 2024. The new quality offensive is not only intended to remove apps from the Play Store that crash, cannot be installed or do not run properly. The company also banned apps that offer "limited functionality and content".

These include static apps without advanced functions such as PDF viewers. Apps that only offered a single background image, for example, were also kicked out. Apps without any functions that could be tests or other developer gimmicks are also undesirable.

Google confirmed to TechCrunch that the new guidelines play a role in the reduction of the app offering. The company added that "expanded verification requirements, mandatory app testing for new personal developer accounts, and enhanced human reviews to identify apps that attempt to deceive or scam users" were also used in the cleanup.

2.4 million "bad apps"

Google also pointed out that the company was able to prevent the publication of 2.36 million apps that violated its guidelines or were harmful in 2024. Google also blocked more than 158,000 developer accounts that had attempted to publish harmful apps.

Google's reduction in the number of apps on offer could provide some relief for owners of Android devices. This is because the Play Store offers both legitimate and high-quality apps, as well as fraudulent and otherwise low-quality applications. Developers should also benefit from the approximate halving of the app offering, as their apps may now be easier to find.

(afl)