Google Play Store and Apple App Store removed over 800K apps in H1 2021: Pixalate

On September 14, 2021, Pixalate released its latest report regarding smartphone app removal in H1 2021, which shows Google Play Store and Apple App Store removed over 813,000 apps in the first half of 2021, in which more than 86% of apps were targeted children 12 years and younger.

Going with the report, more than 800,000 apps that were removed may be caused by a variety of factors, including policy violations or removal by developers themselves.

Adding to this, in Google Play Store, 66% of removed apps have at least one “dangerous license”. Though 27% of removed apps can access GPS coordinates, and 19% of removed apps can access the camera.

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On the other hand, in Apple’s Apple App Store, 89% of removed apps are aimed at 12 y/o children and below, and 59% of removed apps have no privacy policy detected.

Moreover, 83% of removed apps did not list an address (78%) or did not have an identifiable address (5%). Below, you can see the 20 most popular apps before being deleted from the Apple App Store:

Key findings:

• Over 813,000 apps were delisted from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in H1 2021; Google had had 9.3 billion downloads and Apple apps had 21.8 million user ratings prior to delisting
• COPPA risks: 86% (Google) and 89% (Apple) of the delisted apps targeted children aged 12 and under
• 25% of Google and 59% of Apple delisted apps had no privacy policy detected
• On Google, 26% of delisted apps from Russia had no privacy policy detected; on Apple, 60% of delisted apps from China had no privacy policy detected
• 66% of delisted Google apps had at least one “dangerous permission”: 27% had access to GPS coordinates and 19% could access the camera

Know about Pixalate

For those unaware, Pixalate is the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising. We work 24/7 to guard your reputation and grow your media value.