Overview

• Google prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from reaching the Play Store in 2024, an increase from previous years, aided by AI-assisted reviews in 92% of cases.
• Over 158,000 developer accounts were banned for attempting to publish harmful apps, including malware and spyware, on the Play Store.
• The Play Protect system scanned over 200 billion apps daily, identifying more than 13 million malicious apps installed from external sources outside the Play Store.
• Google introduced stricter permissions policies, blocking 1.3 million apps from gaining unnecessary access to sensitive user data.
• The updated Play Integrity API, mandatory by May 2025, will require Android 13 or newer, potentially rendering older devices incompatible with some critical apps.