Pixalate’s November 2 - 8, 2025 Delisted Mobile Apps Reports: 40K Apps Delisted on Google Play and Apple App Store with Notable Apps ‘NYT Audio’, ‘Amazon Freevee’, and a Netflix Title Removed

Pixalate delisting research finds that over 40K apps registered in the United States and China were removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, including nearly 4,300 apps with detected app-ads.txt files

LONDON, November 17, 2025 --  Pixalate, the leading global platform for ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics, released the November 2 - 8, 2025, Delisted Mobile Apps Reports for China and the United States (U.S) Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The analysis identified 40,439 apps registered in the U.S. and China that were removed during this period. Nearly 4,300 of these apps had detected app-ads.txt files, indicating they support programmatic advertising. 

The report identifies apps, enabled for programmatic advertising (based on the presence of an app-ads.txt file), that are no longer available for download from the U.S. Apple App Store and Google Play Store, according to Pixalate’s data. Delisted apps do not indicate which party initiated the delisting action, i.e., Apple, Google, or the app developer. 

While some apps are delisted for benign reasons, others are removed due to more nefarious behaviors, including ad fraud and non-compliance with privacy regulations or app store policies, which may expose advertisers to potential financial or legal risks. Because apps can be delisted for various reasons, Pixalate neither asserts nor assigns a reason for any delisting action. Additionally, it is generally not publicly available information as to who the initiator of the delisting is, so it is often not possible to know whether the app store or the developer triggered the removal.

Pixalate’s research focuses on app profile information. It provides various insights observed in the programmatic advertising bid stream, such as the developer’s country of registry, the level of app abandonment, and the number of delisted apps with advertising (as indicated by an app-ads.txt file).

Top 5 China-Registered Delisted Apps - Apple App Store (November 2-8, 2025)

Top 5 China-Registered Delisted Apps - Google Play Store (November 2-8, 2025)

Top 5 U.S.-Registered Delisted Apps - Apple App Store (November 2-8, 2025)

Top 5 U.S.-Registered Delisted Apps - Google Play Store (November 2-8, 2025)

To compile this research, Pixalate's data science and analyst team analyzed 40,439 delisted United States and China-registered apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store during November 2-8, 2025.

Download the complete reports here:

• U.S. Apple App Store and Google Play Store
• China Apple App Store and Google Play Store

About Pixalate

Pixalate is a global platform specializing in privacy compliance, ad fraud prevention, and digital ad supply chain data intelligence. Founded in 2012, Pixalate is trusted by regulators, data researchers, advertisers, publishers, ad tech platforms, and financial analysts across the Connected TV (CTV), mobile app, and website ecosystems. Pixalate is accredited by the MRC for the detection and filtration of Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT).  pixalate.com

Disclaimer

The content of this press release, and the November 2 - 8, 2025 US Google Play Store & US Apple App Store Delisted Mobile Apps Reports (the ‘Reports’), reflect Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Any data shared is grounded in Pixalate’s proprietary technology and analytics, which Pixalate is continuously evaluating and updating. Any references to outside sources should not be construed as endorsements. Pixalate's opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees. Pixalate is sharing this data not to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but, instead, to report findings and trends pertaining to programmatic advertising activity across in the time period studied. Per the Media Rating Council (MRC), “‘Invalid Traffic’ is defined generally as traffic that does not meet certain ad serving quality or completeness criteria, or otherwise does not represent legitimate ad traffic that should be included in measurement counts. Among the reasons why ad traffic may be deemed invalid is it is a result of non-human traffic (spiders, bots, etc.), or activity designed to produce fraudulent traffic.” Where the traffic characteristics are suggestive of deliberate intent to mislead, such IVT is often referred to as “ad fraud.” Also per the MRC, “'Fraud' is not intended to represent fraud as defined in various laws, statutes and ordinances or as conventionally used in U.S. Court or other legal proceedings, but rather a custom definition strictly for advertising measurement purposes.”