Pixalate Finds 1.6MM+ ‘Abandoned’ Mobile Apps in Q2 2022: Apps Registered in Russia and China Most Likely to be Abandoned on Google Play Store (42%)

Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising,  released the Abandoned Mobile Apps Report: Q2 2022, showing that over 1.6 million apps between the Google Play Store and Apple App Store appear to have been “abandoned,” meaning that they haven’t been updated in over two years.

Pixalate’s analysis also found 306k+ “Super-Abandoned” apps , which are spread almost evenly between the two stores, with 141k in the Apple App Store and 166k+ in the Google Play Store.

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Apple apps received more updates, Google’s app ecosystem became more abandoned: There were about 200k fewer abandoned apps in the Apple App Store compared to Q1 2022 (-28%), but 150k+ more abandoned in the Google Play Store (+16%).
There are more abandoned apps (32%) than apps that have been updated in the last six months (30%).
Apps registered in Russia and China are the most likely to be abandoned (42%) on the Google Play Store

23% of abandoned apps do not have a detectable privacy policy, compared to just 4% for apps updated in the last six months.
14k abandoned apps transmitted geo location in the ad bid stream, according to Pixalate’s data.
37% likely child-directed apps* are abandoned (81k in Google, and 75k in Apple).

Pixalate is the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising. We work 24/7 to guard your reputation and grow your media value. Pixalate offers the only system of coordinated solutions across display, app, video, and OTT/CTV for better detection and elimination of ad fraud. Pixalate is an MRC-accredited service for the detection and filtration of sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) across desktop and mobile web, mobile in-app, and OTT/CTV advertising.