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The Play Store lost 1.8 million of the 3.4 million apps it started 2024 with. The Google Play Store shed 1.8 million apps since the beginning of last year, according to an analysis from Appfigures and reported earlier by TechCrunch. That makes up around 47 percent of the 3.4 million apps it started 2024 with — a decline that Google spokesperson Dan Jackson says reflects the company’s focus on “delivering high-quality apps” and “commitment to continuous improvements for user safety.” In recent years, Google has ramped up efforts to crack down on spammy and low-quality apps. In 2023, the company started carrying out more thorough app reviews and began requiring developers to test their apps with at least 20 people for two weeks. It began purging apps with “limited functionality and content” last year, and announced in January that it blocked 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being published to the Play Store. The Google Play Store lost 1.8 million apps since the start of 2024. Image: Appfigures As shown by data from Appfigures, nearly 200,000 of the titles removed from the Google Play Store were in the “games” category, followed by 160,700 in education, and 115,400 in business. However, Appfigures shows that app releases are up 7.1 percent globally compared to the same time last year. “Every year, we continue to invest in more ways to protect our community and fight bad actors, so users can trust the apps they download from Google Play and developers can build thriving businesses,” Jackson said in a statement to The Verge. Though the Google Play Store may have lost a significant number of apps since last year, Appfigures’ data shows Apple’s App Store making a small jump from 1.6 million to 1.64 million apps. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

In September, Google entered into a settlement with the attorney generals of all 50 US states, plus the District of Colombia and the territory of Puerto Rico, to deal with an antitrust lawsuit concerning its Play Store policies. This week, Google finally revealed the terms of that settlement, which includes a $700 million payment from the company. In a blog post, Google stated that $630 million of that payment will be put "into a settlement fund to be distributed for the benefit of consumers according to a Court-approved plan". The other $70 million will be placed in another fund to be used by the states. In addition to the money, Google also agreed to make some changes in its Play Store policies. One concerns the sideloading of apps on Android devices. Google stated it will make the process of sideloading apps simpler for consumers. It will also offer info to Android "users about these potential risks of downloading apps directly from the web for the first time." Google also announced it will allow Android app developers and publishers to create an "alternative billing option alongside Google Play’s billing system for their U.S. users". In addition, Android developers will also be "able to show different pricing options within the app when a user makes a digital purchase." Google added: These new changes, and the settlement money, still need to be approved by the Courts before they officially go into effect. The public reveal of this settlement between Google and the US state attorney generals comes just a few days after a jury ruled against Google in a similar case with developer Epic Games. The jury agreed with Epic's view that Google was operating an illegal monopoly with its Play Store on Android devices. Google has stated it will appeal the jury's decision. Source

In a move to prevent users from installing apps that may not have the latest privacy and security features, Google and Apple are looking to remove apps that haven’t been updated in the last two years. The latest policy change of Apple and Google may result in the removal of around 869,000 apps from the Google Play Store and around 650,000 iOS apps from the App Store, according to a report from Pixalate. Google has recently been cracking down on apps that do not comply with the store policies for a long time. The company recently banned 190,000 malicious developers from Play Store. The search giant is also looking to introduce new restrictions to prevent installing sideloaded apps. As per the Pixalate report, 68% of Google Play Store and App Store apps have received an update in the last two years. To put this into perspective, nearly 3.1 million apps across Play Store and App Store have received updates and, therefore, are abiding by the new rules. The report estimates that nearly 869,000 apps in the Google Play Store and around 650,000 apps in the App Store are likely to face the consequences since they haven't got an update in the last two years. This is equivalent to nearly one-third of Google Play Store and App Store apps combined. While Google has required developers to update their apps at least once in the last two years, Apple's policy change doesn't have enough clarity. The latter says it would remove apps that have been "updated in a significant amount of time" from the App Store. Apple has given developers 90 days to update their apps. Google's new policy change will be effective when it officially releases Android 13 for Pixel devices. As a result of the changes, outdated Android apps may either get removed or be hidden from the search result. Unless outdated apps get removed from the store, users who're using them can continue to use them if they wish to. Source: CNET via Android Central Nearly one-third of App Store and Play Store apps may get removed