Google has been actively improving its Google Play app store, including removing malicious and low-quality apps. This has been especially active since the beginning of 2024, and the company's app store now has 1.8 million apps instead of 3.4 million at the beginning of last year, TechCrunch reports.
Overall, there have been 47% fewer apps in the store over the past year, according to Appfigures. At the same time, the number of apps in the App Store has increased, albeit not by much – from 1.6 million to 1.64 million.
Cleaning up Google Play not only brings obvious benefits, like reducing malware, but also benefits other developers by getting their apps more exposure.
In July 2024, Google announced new policies for Google Play that increase the minimum quality requirements for apps, and low-quality apps that don't work properly or don't launch at all began to be removed after August 31. The company also began blocking apps that have limited functionality, such as apps that only offer a few smartphone wallpapers.
Google confirmed that the new policy, which includes enhanced verification, mandatory app testing, and more in-depth reviews, was a major factor in cleaning up the store. The company also noted the use of artificial intelligence to detect potential threats. Thanks to this, Google was able to prevent the publication of 2.36 million policy-violating apps and block 158,000 developer accounts that attempted to publish malware.