Google Play Store sees huge drop in apps amid tough policies

NEW DELHI: Google's tighter regulating policies have significantly reduced the number of available apps on its Play Store, pushing the total number of apps to the lowest point in years, a report showed on Monday.

The total number of Google Play apps has dropped by 360,000 in the past three years, reaching 2.59 million in June, according to data by CasinosEnLigne.com.

Low-quality apps have declined but still have a 37 per cent share on Google Play Store, the data showed.

The Statista and AppBrain data show that Android users could choose between 2.95 million apps three years ago.

By the end of 2021, this number dropped to 2.7 million and continued falling.

In January 2022, the number of available apps stood at 2.64 million, showing a huge 260,000 drop in two years.

Statistics show the total number of Google Play apps slightly increased to 2.65 million by mid-2022 but dropped again by 60,000 in the past year.

As of June, Android users could choose from 2.59 million available apps or 12 per cent less than three years ago.

"Regular apps make up 63 per cent of that number, and low-quality apps still account for the remaining 37 per cent, despite their number falling in the past year," the report mentioned.

Google has put considerable effort into protecting Android users from low-quality apps and helping them to find high-quality apps more easily.

According to AppBrain data, the number of low-quality apps listed in the Google Play Store stood at nearly 983,000 in June last year. Eight months after launching the new monitoring system, their number dropped to around 947,000.

Besides a massive decline in the number of available apps, Google has also seen its Android market share drop to the lowest point in seven years, the report noted.

On the other hand, Android's closest rival, Apple's iOS, increased its market share by 1 per cent in the last three years, reaching 28.44 per cent in Q2 2023.