Google and Apple to cut down apps which are not updated

Google and Apple are currently having the favourite of the smartphone users with the biggest app stores. But the giants have now announced that it will be cutting out all the outdated apps from the store. It was in April, 2022 when both the companies had decided that any app that has not been updated in two years would be removed. Google had in April, 2022 announced about a two-year cut-off that would begin in November.

Later in April, 2022 Apple also started to send emails to the developers while giving them a 30 day notice to update or get them removed. For now it cannot be said as to what would it look like to cut down two year old apps from the store. But as per data from CNET, the analyst firm Pixalate has said that the two-year cut-off would remove 869,000 apps from Google Play and around 650,000 from the App Store. This marks about a third of the total number of apps on each store. If the apps are cut, then Google Play will have just 1.7 million apps that would be down from 2.6 million apps. Talking about the App Store, it will get down to 1.3 million apps from 1.95 million.

The number mentioned about the Google Store is just an estimate as the company has mentioned a two-year cut off, but Apple has so far not specified about a cut-off point. The iPhone maker has only sent emails to the developers while intimating that it will take down the apps that have not been updated ‘in a significant amount of time’. However, some of the developers have claimed that even App Store has mentioned a two-year cut off.

The recent announcement makes sense as the old apps are lower quality and are more prone to be exposed to the threats. But some of the developers have claimed that such a move could lead to a collateral damage as not every two year old app is broken and not all of them are eligible for an update.

Photo Credits: Pixabay