Google is getting ready to remove lots of Android apps from the Play Store

By Bryan M. Wolfe Updated July 19, 2024

Samsung Galaxy S23 showing Google Play Store — Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

Starting next month, Google will require apps on the Play Store to provide a “stable, engaging, responsive user experience.” If they don’t, the company plans to eventually remove those apps from the store.

This policy is part of Google’s latest spam policy update and is designed to eliminate apps with “limited functionality and content,” such as text-only apps and single wallpaper apps. The new rules take effect on Saturday, August 31.

According to the company, apps targeted for deletion fall into three broad categories:

Apps that are static without app-specific functionalities; for example, text-only or PDF file apps
Apps with very little content and that do not provide an engaging user experience; for example, single wallpaper apps
Apps that are designed to do nothing or have no function

Google is also better targeting apps with broken functionality. These include apps that install properly, but don’t load or aren’t responsive.

The company’s recent actions are part of its ongoing efforts to remove and restrict certain apps from Google Play. According to Android Authority, in 2023, the company prevented 2.28 million policy-violating apps from being published and rejected nearly 200,000 apps to enhance user protection.

Millions of Android-based devices are in the wild, and it’s nice to see Google running after useless or dangerous apps. Whether on a top-of-the-line Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or a budget phone, inferior apps have no business on smart devices.

Google concludes that “apps should provide a stable, responsive, and engaging user experience. Apps that crash, do not have the basic degree of adequate utility as mobile apps, lack engaging content, or exhibit other behavior that is not consistent with a functional and engaging user experience are not allowed on Google Play.”

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Bryan M. Wolfe has over a decade of experience as a technology writer. He writes about mobile.

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