Pixalate Finds 1.5M+ ‘Abandoned’ Mobile Apps in Google & Apple Stores as of Q1 2022

Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising, has released the Abandoned Mobile Apps Report: Q1 2022, showing that over 1.5 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 314,000 "Super-Abandoned" apps (5+ years with no update), which are spread almost evenly between the two stores, with 58% in the Apple App Store (184k apps) and 42% in the Google Play Store (130k apps).

Why this is important

• "Abandoned" apps may harbour serious safety and security concerns.
• The most innovative apps regularly release new improved versions with bug fixes and security patches.
• With the growing awareness of consumer privacy concerns, this issue becomes even more important.
• Advertisers need to take notice of how frequently apps are updated 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 update in 2+ years).
• By way of comparison, 1.3 million apps across the Google and Apple app stores have been updated in the past six months, as of the end of Q1 2022.
• More updates means more downloads: Of apps with 1MM+ downloads, 88% have been updated within the last six months.
• App categories most likely to be abandoned include Education, Reference, and Games, which are often popular with children.
• App categories most likely to be innovative (regularly updated): Finance, Health, and Shopping.

 
Download a free copy of the Abandoned Mobile Apps Report: Q1 2022 here.