Overview
- Google introduced stricter app quality standards in July 2024, targeting low-functionality apps and those with limited content.
- The Play Store blocked 2.36 million policy-violating apps and banned over 158,000 developer accounts in 2024 to enhance user safety.
- The Play Integrity API now enforces stronger security measures, but impacts devices running Android 12 or older, which account for half of all Android users.
- Despite the app reduction, new app releases on Google Play increased by 7.1% year-over-year as of April 2025, signaling continued developer activity.
- Apple's App Store saw modest growth during the same period, suggesting that Google's policy changes, not global trends, drove the decline in Play Store apps.