Google Play Store clean up sees a 47% drop in apps
The Play Store shrank, but it got sharper.
Not long ago, the Google Play Store was a playground for indie developers, wide open, fast-moving, and lightly policed. That freedom led to innovation, but also to chaos. Over time, the app store became cluttered with spammy clones, broken apps, and clickbait-filled nonsense.
Now, Google is cleaning its house.
According to new data from Appfigures, the number of apps on the Play Store has dropped from about 3.4 million at the start of 2024 to just 1.8 million today. That’s a 47% drop in less than a year, a dramatic shift that doesn’t match any broader industry trend. In fact, Apple App Store actually gained apps during the same period, growing slightly from 1.6 to 1.64 million.
Behind the curtain, the dramatic plunge is a result of Google tightening its app policies and starting to clear out anything that didn’t meet new quality standards. That included broken apps and apps that technically worked but didn’t do much. Think, one-page wallpaper apps, static PDFs, text-only placeholders, or anything with vague or recycled content. Even experimental apps that looked abandoned were swept off the platform.
At the same time, Google says it raised the bar on its review process. What used to rely heavily on automated scans and quick turnarounds now includes expanded human oversight, more rigorous testing for new developer accounts, and stronger detection tools driven by AI.
The company says in the past year alone, it has blocked 2.36 million policy-violating apps before they even launched and banned over 158,000 shady developer accounts that tried to sneak in deceptive or harmful content.
An extra wrinkle in Europe that might have added to the drop was that a new “trader status” rule that went into effect in February 2024, requiring developers to list their name and address publicly in app listings. Apps that didn’t comply were removed, at least in EU markets. Google didn't say how much that rule factored into the numbers, but Apple followed the same requirement and didn’t see a decline in apps, which suggests Apple has long had a rigorous app review process.
Overall, this could be a win for Android users. A smaller app store filled with higher-quality apps means less time digging through garbage. For developers, it’s a better shot at visibility and a fairer fight for attention.
In short, the Play Store shrank, but it got sharper. And maybe that’s exactly what it needed.
Henry Chikwem
