Google has shown the door to nearly 60,000 apps considered to be repetitive, spammy, in violation of “terms of service” or otherwise deemed to be inappropriate for distribution through the play store.
It appears that the majority of the apps that have been removed are from two specific categories. The first being applications from unknown developers or developers who have ‘black marks’ against their names from past infringements. The second being redundant or repeated apps. A large number of the apps that have disappeared are MP3 ringtone apps which are notoriously bad for either violating the Google Play terms of service or at least making it easier for users who install them to sign up for extra services they didn’t intend on.
There’s a massive number of rules and regulations about apps that should and should not be placed in the Play Store by developers. The two most relevant rules that are most likely to have been drivers for this recent clean out are :
- Product descriptions should not be misleading or loaded with keywords in an attempt to manipulate ranking or relevancy in the Store’s search results.
- Do not post repetitive content.
and
Your average user won’t see the difference, the users who take the time to look into the apps and in particular the quality of apps that are available on the Play Store will. The search results will be less cluttered and much more appropriate to your search input.
Perhaps this cleanout was the precursor to yesterdays launch of their new Google Play Store experience, regardless it’s another clear indicator from Google that they’re pushing hard to keep the Play Store a quality market and reduce the perception that it’s a mass market for junk apps or apps that can be malicious in nature.
Do you like that Google are taking out the trash and keeping the Play Store clean? Let us know in the comments below
About time Google start to clean out Google Play. Apple App Store is much better.
I just ordered a GS3 to test my existing Android/iOS app more on android. I don’t want to be booted in the next round.
Dude who are you? Are you on OCAU? Your name seems familiar. What’s your app?
Yep gotta agree. It IS about time!!!
It’s about time, I often see applications that haven’t been updated since 2010-2011. I sometimes don’t know why devs just drop their apps. Not to mention that Fruit ninja hasn’t been updated since march 2012. Because iOS is always favoured for some reason which pisses me off to no end.
As a developer I was just wondering why you think an app must be updated to remain relevant or useful? Updated with what? BTW… I do not favour iOS. In fact our latest game is only on Android. iOS will be a few weeks later.
I personally feel an app should be updated if there are changes to the look and feel of the OS, if your app has been designed when Android was on Cupcake-Gingerbread and still has not been updated to a ‘Holo’ look and feel then it does both your app and the platform a disservice as it does not look good. That would be my 2c on relevance. Usefulness is a whole other ball game. If your app is still fulfilling its intended purpose then really, it’s only going to bite you in the butt if it’s a paid app you… Read more »
Yep. I agree. I must admit, I had my game dev head on, and was not even thinking about other types of apps. Yes, it makes sense that they should be updated to keep up with the current interface style/theme if they have used such styles to begin with. Games though, generally do not have such interface elements to update.
I’m assuming you’re from half brick, as you say you don’t favour iOS why hasn’t fruit ninja got all the same updates as it has on iOS? Also a lot of requests for updates have been posted but have all been ignored.
No, not from half brick.
We release the same stuff to Android & iOS. iOS is of course slower. That is part of the reason for our latest game going Android only initially. We can fix, enhance and update instantly.. Well, within a few hours. iOS is a slow process by comparison.
Yeah, I’ve heard that it’s harder on iOS. I’ve also been told it’s quite a lengthy process making things compatible across all iOS devices, even though it should be quite simple.
iOS is favoured as they treat developers better and are less greedy than Google.