To ensure the quality and trustworthiness of the apps within its app market, Google Play has released a series of policies to regulate app developers. As a result, thousands of low-quality and policy-violating apps have been removed periodically. But, despite all the measures and efforts, the number of low-quality Android apps has increased.
According to data presented by Fair Betting Sites, the number of low-quality apps in the Google Play Store jumped to over one million in November, 10% more than in the same month a year ago.
Nearly 90,000 New Low-Quality Apps in a Year
Google’s new app monitoring system, which starts on November 30, will make it easier for Android users to discover high-quality apps. In other words, higher-quality apps will become more visible, while low-quality apps will be removed from recommendations. This includes apps with a user-perceived crash rate of above 1.09% and a user-perceived ANR rate of 0.47%. The new app monitoring system comes after Google Play has seen a surge in low-quality apps.
According to AppBrain data, almost 90,000 new low-quality apps were listed in Google Play Store in the last year. Between January and April, the number of new low-quality apps reached nearly 42,000. By mid-2022, this figure rose to 57,500.
Between July and September, the number of poor-quality apps increased by another 12,300 and then spiked again in October. That month alone, almost 19,000 low-quality apps were added to Google’s app store, the highest monthly number in the last year.
Low-Quality Apps Rise while Regular Apps Drop
Google knows that users expect to find an app that meets their expectations, whatever the category. That is why the tech giant continues trying to keep them away from poor-quality apps. Still, that is a challenging task, especially when the number of low-quality apps has been rising while the number of regular apps in Google Play has dropped.
The AppBrain data showed the number of regular apps in the Google Play store stood at 1.69 million last week, down from 1.75 million in November last year. At the same time, the number of poor-quality apps has jumped from 931,700 to over one million in this period.
The total number of Google Play apps stood at 2.71 million last week, slightly increasing from the 2.69 million seen in November last year.
