Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising, today released the Q4 2022 Delisted Mobile Apps Report, containing insights about mobile apps removed from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The analysis helps developers and advertisers recognize potential threats of privacy, brand safety, and compliance breaches.
Pixalate’s report reveals that 274,803 mobile apps were delisted in Q4 2022, a decrease of ~21% from the 349k+ delisted in Q3 2022. In total, Google and Apple combined delisted over 1.4 million apps in 2022, according to Pixalate’s data. However, delisted apps remain on user devices and can continue to run ads. Pixalate’s analysis reveals that programmatic advertisers spent $45 million on delisted apps in 2022.
Key Findings:
Pixalate’s Q4 2022 Delisted Mobile Apps Report reveals:
- 1.4MM+ delisted apps across Google (737k+), Apple app stores (699k+) in 2022.
- In Q4 2022, Apple delisted 8% of all apps on their store (Google 4%).
- $45MM estimated programmatic ad spend on delisted apps in Q4 2022.
- Of apps delisted from the Apple App Store with programmatic ads, 97%+ transmitted end-user location in ad bid stream.
- 106k+ delisted apps in 2022 were likely child-directed (60k from Apple and 46k from Google).
Apple and Google have an important role to play in protecting consumers’ online privacy, part of which is setting and maintaining consumer privacy standards across the 5.2+ million apps available for download in their stores. While removing apps from a store prevents future downloads, those apps can remain installed on users’ devices and continue to collect personal information.
In Q4 2022, Pixalate found 7.6% of the delisted apps had no privacy policy URL detected and that 93.5% of delisted apps with ads transmitted end-user location in ad bid stream, posing a potential opportunity for unchecked consumer tracking.
Download the full report as well as a list of the top 200 most popular delisted apps from each app store here.
What’s inside the report
Pixalate’s Q4 2022 Delisted Mobile Apps Report includes:
- The scale of delisted apps dating back to Q1 2021
- Sensitive information shared by delisted apps with advertisers
- Ad spend on delisted apps
- Delisted apps broken down by how long since the app had last been updated
- Likely child-directed apps that were delisted
- Country of origin of delisted apps
- Delisted apps by app category
- List of the most popular delisted apps
Download a copy of the Q4 2022 Delisted Mobile Apps Report for free here. You will also be provided with a list of the top 200 most popular apps that were delisted in Q4 2022.
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