Google’s tighter regulating policies have significantly reduced the number of available apps in its Play Store since 2022 – pushing the number of new app releases to the lowest point in years, according to new data from Stocklytics.com, which adds the average monthly number of new app releases in the Google Play Store has plunged by a considerable 75% in two years, reaching 29 000 last month.
Google has put considerable effort into protecting Android users from low-quality apps and helping them to find high-quality apps more easily. First, the tech giant introduced a series of new policies regulating app developers, followed by a new, stricter monitoring system which makes higher-quality apps more visible and removes low-quality apps from recommendations.
As a result, the total number of available apps and the new monthly releases significantly dropped.
Statista and AppBrain data shows that the total number of newly added apps in the Google Play Store has dropped four-fold over the past two years. In March 2022, Google’s app store listed 120 000 new Android apps – one of the highest numbers in its history.
The number of new releases fluctuated between 90 000 and 100 000 by March 2023 and then started falling rapidly. By December, the number of new Android apps plunged to 57 000, but the downward trend even worsened in 2024. Between January and October, the average number of new releases in the Google Play Store halved – falling from 60 000 to only 29 000, the lowest figure in years.
Although Android users still have millions of available apps, the total number of Google Play apps has significantly plunged.
The Statista and AppBrain data show Android users could choose between 1,64-million apps last week or 1-million less than two years ago. This shocking difference reflects a double-digit drop across all app categories. The Appfigures data shows the number of available sports, social media, or shopping apps has fallen by an average of 15% quarter-over-quarter. Entertainment, education, and business apps have dropped even more – falling by 18% and 19% respectively.
Although the number of new monthly releases and the total number of apps in the Google Play Store has significantly dropped, the Android market share continues to rise. According to StatCounter data, after rising for five quarters in a row, the Android market share hit 71,7% in Q3. Its closest rival, Apple’s iOS, holds 27,6% of the mobile operating system market.
Although the rise of Chinese smartphone vendors Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo has fuelled this growth, Android has been gaining ground even in the saturated and iOS-dominated North American market. While iOS remains the market leader in the region, its market share has dropped from 56,8% in Q2 2023 to 55,2% in Q3 2024. On the other hand, Android’s market share increased by 1,7% in this period and it now stands at 44,4%.