Google’s tighter regulating policies have significantly reduced the number of available apps in its Play Store, pushing the total number of apps to the lowest point in years.
According to data presented by CasinosEnLigne.com, the total number of Google Play apps has dropped by 360,000 in the past three years, reaching 2.59 million in June.
Low-Quality Apps Drop but Still Have a 37% Share in Google Play Store
Although Android users have millions of available apps to choose from, the total number of Google Play apps is way below the figures seen in 2020.
The Statista and AppBrain data show 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% less than three years ago. Regular apps make up 63% of that number, and low-quality apps still account for the remaining 37%, despite their number falling in the past year.
Google has put considerable effort into protecting Android users from low-quality apps and helping them to find high-quality apps more easily. First, there was a series of new policies regulating app developers. But in November last year, the tech giant also launched a new, stricter monitoring system, which makes higher-quality apps more visible and removes low-quality apps from recommendations.
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.
Android Market Share Drops to the Lowest Point in Seven Years
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.
Although Android maintained its position as the leading mobile operating system worldwide, its market share dropped to 70.79% in the second quarter of 2023, the figure last seen in 2016. The StatCounter data show Android lost nearly 2% of its market share in the past three years and 0.93% share in the last year.
On the other hand, Android’s closest rival, Apple’s iOS, increased its market share by 1% in the last three years, reaching 28.44% in Q2 2023.
