Pixalate finds over 1.5 million “abandoned” mobile apps in Google and Apple Stores in Q1 2022
Pixalate, the market-leading compliance, privacy and fraud protection analytics platform for connected television (CTV) and mobile advertising, has released the Discontinued Mobile Apps: Q1 2022 report, showing that over 1.5 million apps between the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store appears to be “abandoned”, meaning it hasn’t been updated in over two years.
Pixalate’s analysis also found 314,000 “super-abandoned” apps (more than 5 years without an update), which are split almost evenly between the two stores, with 58% on Apple’s App Store (184 000 applications) and 42% on the Google Play Store. (130k apps).
why it matters
- “Abandoned” apps can present serious safety and security issues.
- The most innovative applications regularly release new and improved versions with bug fixes and security patches.
- With the growing awareness of consumer privacy concerns, this issue becomes even more important.
- Advertisers should consider app update frequency before deciding to invest.
Some of Pixalate’s key findings include
- 30% (1.5 million out of 5 million) of all mobile apps appear to have been abandoned (i.e. no updates for over 2 years).
- By comparison, 1.3 million apps in the Google and Apple app stores were updated in the last six months, at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
- More updates means more downloads: Of apps with over 1 million downloads, 88% were updated in the last six months.
- The app categories most likely to be dropped include education, reference, and games, which are often popular with children.
- Categories of applications most likely to be innovative (updated regularly): Finance, Health and Shopping.
Download a free copy of the Abandoned Mobile Apps: Q1 2022 report here.
