earlier this year, Apple And Google Warned developers about apps that haven’t been updated for a long time. According to several reports, Apple had sent notices to some developers warning them that the apps would be removed. app Store If they had not been updated in a long time. Now, a report by analytics firm Pixalate suggests that about 30% of apps on the App Store and play store in danger of being removed.
According to the report, between 1.5 million apps google play store And apple app store It seems to be “abandoned”. In other words, they haven’t been updated in two years. The report further noted that “the application categories most likely to be omitted are: education, context, and games, which are often popular among children.”
The Pixalate report also found that there are more than 314,000 “super abandoned” apps, meaning they haven’t been updated in more than five years. Of these, 58% are on the Apple App Store (184k apps) and 42% on the Google Play Store (130k apps).
A lot of developers heeded warnings from Apple and Google. The report suggests that by the end of the first quarter of 2022, 1.3 million apps have been updated in the Google and Apple App Stores in the past six months.
Apple had said it would remove the app from the App Store but users who downloaded the app would be unaffected as they would remain on their devices.
On its App Improvement page, Apple noted that “we are implementing an ongoing process of evaluating apps, removing apps that no longer work as intended, and do not comply with current review guidelines.” are, or are out of date.”
Google did something similar last month. Google said it is expanding the target level API requirements of the Play Store. This means that new apps and updates are already “targeting” Android API level within one year of the release of the latest major Android OS version,” or they cannot be published.
Why would ‘quit’ apps be removed?
There are several reasons why these apps were removed from the two app stores. Apps that have not been updated are always at risk of security. If apps are not updated they do not get security patches and will also have bugs which can be problematic. Also, if a developer is seeking revenue from advertisers then the app needs to be updated regularly.
When are apps expected to be removed?
In its warning email to developers, Apple said it is giving them 30 days to update the apps or they will leave the App Store. So it’s unclear when and how Apple will remove the apps. Google, on the other hand, has clearly stated that “from November 1, 2022, existing apps that do not target the API level within two years of the latest major Android release version will not be available for new users to discover or install.” Apps with devices running Android OS versions higher than the target API level.”