Your Android Can Download Fewer Apps Than in 2023, Here’s Why That’s Good
The Google Play Store has fewer apps now than it did in 2023. The company has dropped from hosting 3.4 million apps at the start of 2024 to around 1.8 million in April.
This news comes from app intelligence provider Appfigures, which shared the analysis with TechCrunch. The report says the Play Store now has 47% fewer apps now than it did at the end of 2023.
Appfigures notes that this isn’t the case for Apple’s App Store, which has seen a small increase moving from 1.6 million to 1.64 million. That implies this is a Google specific change rather than a global trend across mobile app usage.
While this may at first appear to be bad for Android users, it’s likely a positive move for most people as a lot of the applications removed from the Play Store were low quality and sometimes broken. Google has made a consistent push over the last year to offer higher quality apps and games.
Historically, Google has had a less intensive quality control processes than Apple which has meant more low-end apps make it through to the storefront. Google changed its quality requirements for applications in July 2024. Until then, the company only stopped apps that wouldn’t run or were broken, but it then moved to banning apps that offered low content experiences or limited functionality.
In a response to TechCrunch’s report, Google agreed this is part of the reason for the drop but it said there were other factors contributing such as expanded human reviews and new verification requirements for app developers.
The research also showed a 7.1% increase in new apps released during April 2025 when compared to the same month in 2024. That suggests Android users continue to get new experiences on the Play Store, and developers are continuing to provide new apps on Android.
If you own an Android phone or tablet, this change may mean you’re able to better find useful apps and games on the Play Store than you have done previously. Curation on the Play Store is still limited, but it should also mean it’s harder to download low quality apps to your device.
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