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Pixalate Releases Q1 2023 Delisted Mobile Apps Report: 107% YoY Increase in Apps Removed from Google Play and Apple App Store

May 19, 2023 8:00:00 AM

Pixalate research finds 488k app developers have had all of their apps delisted from Google and Apple app stores since Q1 2022

LONDON, May 19, 2023 -- Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising, today released the Q1 2023 Delisted Mobile Apps Report, analyzing apps from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store that are no longer available for download as of Q1 2023.

Download the Report

Apps can be delisted from the app stores yet may remain on a user’s mobile device. Google and Apple regularly remove apps from their app stores for a variety of reasons. While some apps are delisted for benign reasons, others are removed as a result of more nefarious behaviors, including non-compliance with app store policies. 

Pixalate’s report analyzes app profile information such as developer country of registry, existence of a privacy policy, app store category, and its child-directedness under the COPPA Rule. The report also contains insight into the apps’ behaviors observed in the programmatic advertising bid stream such as transmission of personal information including location data, and estimated ad spend.

Key Findings:

  • 3.5M+ delisted apps across Google Play (2.4M), Apple App stores (1.1M) in the last 2 years, since Q1 2021
  • 107% YoY increase on apps delisted in Google Play and Apple App Stores, from 220k+ in Q1 2022 to 454k+ in Q1 2023
  • 12% of delisted Apple apps were “super-abandoned” (4+ yrs. since last update), 5% in Google Play Store
  • 6% of delisted apps in Apple had no privacy policy URL detected, 7% in Google Play 
  • 14.7k delisted apps across Google (14.5k) and Apple (216) app stores have “Screensaver” or “Wallpaper” in their title
  • Since Q1 2022, 488k developers have had all of their apps delisted from the Google or Apple app stores
    • 46% of developers with delisted apps have more than 50% of their apps being removed from stores.

Pixalate’s Q1 2023 Delisted Mobile Apps Report includes:

  • Google and Apple Store Analysis
  • Programmatic Ads Analysis
  • Transparency Analysis
  • Country of Registry Analysis
  • Category Analysis
  • Likely Child-Directed App Analysis
  • “Screensavers”  App Analysis
  • By Delisted Developers Analysis
  • List Top 10 Apps by Store

Download a free copy of the report, including a list of the top 50 delisted apps by store, here:

Download the Report

If you are interested in more insights like the above, across desktop, mobile and CTV devices,  please reach out to us using this contact form.

Disclaimer

The content of this post, and the Q1 2023 Abandoned Mobile Apps Report (the "Report"), 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. It should be noted that the mere fact an app does not appear to have been updated in a certain period of time does not necessarily mean that such app's publisher has abandoned the app, or is otherwise violating any policy, best practice, or regulation. Instead, we are merely noting the apparent inactivity and rendering an opinion that this apparent absence of updates may be suggestive of heightened risks to end users and other data subjects. Pixalate is sharing this data not to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but, instead, to render opinions and report trends pertaining to apps available for download via the official Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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