Google Removes Low-Quality Android Apps from Play Store to Boost Engagement

On August 31, Google began removing some Android apps from its Play Store, citing a desire to provide a “stable, responsive, and engaging user experience.” The move, part of the company’s latest updated spam and minimal functionality policies, could have an impact on developers.

Apps with “limited functionality and content,” such as those that are static and lack app-specific features, will be removed. This includes text-based or PDF apps, and apps with little content that do not provide an engaging user experience, such as apps with a single wallpaper, the policy said.

Google also removes apps with broken functionality, such as apps that “crash, freeze, force close, or otherwise behave abnormally.” This includes apps that:

• Do not install.
• Install but do not load.
• Load but do not respond.

The company declined to comment further on the matter.

Less freedom for programmers

Andrew Cornwall, a senior analyst at Forrester, told TechRepublic that while Apple’s iOS app store “has traditionally rejected apps that didn’t meet its quality guidelines, Google, on the other hand, has allowed developers to publish a lot more.” More apps have meant more choices, which has given Google an advantage, he said.

Many developers first published to Google Play with a low-value test app, Cornwall said. “But the developer never intended for anyone to download the app,” he noted.

Some people used free app builders to create apps that were little more than ads for the service, he said. “The creators of these apps often used app store optimization techniques to encourage downloads, which resulted in a poor user experience.” For example, “users saw ads when they searched, not apps that did what they needed them to do,” Cornwall said.

Another use case for this method was writers who sometimes published books by delivering them as an app on Google Play, using in-app purchase as the payment method, he added.

“It probably should have been e-books from the start, not apps,” Cornwall said.

Does this change impact security?

The policy change will not significantly impact security — rather, it is about improving the user experience, Cornwall emphasized.

“It’s possible that this policy change will eliminate some single-pane apps that simply install adware or mimic another app’s login process and do nothing else,” he said. “However, they will still violate privacy, fraud, and abuse policies.”

He added that Google has updated Play Console requirements “to ensure that financial products and services, health, VPN, and government apps come from registered organizations rather than individual developers, which can help prevent users from leaking their private information to an untrusted source.”

Another policy change, which aims to add sound to Google’s clause on manipulated media under its Privacy, Fraud, and Abuse Policy, is “more about keeping Google out of trouble than ensuring end-user safety,” he said.

Previous steps for Play Store policy violations

This is not the first time that Google has restricted access to apps available on the Play Store.

According to a Google blog post published in April last year, in 2023, the tech giant prevented 2.28 million apps that violated its policies from being published on the Play Store. Google credited investments in “new and improved security features, policy updates, and advanced machine learning and app review processes” for the measures.

Google also said at the time that it had strengthened its developer onboarding and review processes and now requires more identity information when Play accounts are first created. The investment in review tools and processes has allowed the company to “more effectively identify bad actors and fraudsters,” the company wrote. Subsequently, 333,000 “bad” accounts were banned from Play for violations, including “confirmed malware and repeated serious policy violations.”

Google also said it has improved privacy protections for more than 31 SDKs affecting over 790,000 apps by working with developer kit providers to restrict access to and sharing of sensitive data.

Result for users

Cornwall said Google’s updated minimum functionality policy aims to exclude these less valuable apps from Google Play, just as Apple already does with the App Store.

“Users likely won’t notice any difference other than it being easier to search,” he explained.

“For book publishers, they’ll have to find another payment or distribution method,” he said. “Spammers will move to another, cheap channel. App developers can practice with Google Play’s internal testing options.”

Cornwall added that by updating its spam and minimal functionality policies, Google will remove a large portion of spam from Google Play.

“That’s good news for users, who will find useful apps more quickly,” he said. “Real creators shouldn’t worry. If you want to release the next ‘I Am Rich’ app and then retire on the income, you first have to make it do something interesting.”

Google provides an extensive set of guidelines to help app developers publish their apps to the Play Store.