Google will remove around 900,000 apps from the Play Store

Google announced it: applications that are not updated or that do not meet the privacy rules of the Play store can no longer be included in the catalog.

The American company wants to focus on abandoned apps, namely those that have not received any updates for the past two years.

Ensure a better user experience

Because “every update to the Android operating system brings improvements in privacy, security and user experience,” says Google in a press release.

The company added that it works with Android developers “to ensure their apps work seamlessly on newer versions of Android. »

Today, as part of Google Play’s latest policy updates, we’re taking additional steps to prevent users from installing apps that may not have the latest privacy and security features by expanding our API requirements at the target level.

Hunting for abandoned apps

Thus, Google specifies that as of 1^er November 2022, discontinued apps, i.e. existing icons that fail to meet update and privacy guidelines within two years “will no longer be available for installation, for users with recent Android versions”.

Application developers are therefore warned: they will have to act if they do not want to see their icons disappear smartphones.

As new versions of the Android operating system are released, the requirements window will adjust accordingly.

Google sets the tone: the company should therefore, in the future, regularly sort out its abandoned applications so that they adapt to Android updates that are born.

869,000 abandoned apps

And the date of 1^er November coincides with the probable availability of Android 13 on the Pixel range, Google’s smartphones. After that, these applications will no longer appear in the search bar of the Play Store, or even be completely deleted. No longer possible to download them, therefore.

On the Play Store, we would count up to 869,000 abandoned applications, and 650,000 on the App Store (Apple), a total of 1.5 million apps not respecting the rules on the two platforms.

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