Google is killing “low quality” Android apps next month

Google is increasing its minimum quality requirements for Android apps and will soon remove those that don’t meet expectations from the Play Store. According to the company latest spam policy updateApps that demonstrate “limited functionality and content” – such as text-only apps, single wallpaper apps, or those that are literally designed to do nothing – will no longer be allowed on the Play Store starting August 31st.

They join existing restrictions that prohibit broken apps that become unresponsive, fail to install, crash, or function abnormally. Google says additional requirements were added to “ensure that apps can meet the high standards of the Play catalog and engage users through quality functionality.”

Google has made previous efforts to better police apps hosted on its Play Store. As noted by Android Authorityas many as 2.28 million applications were blocked of the service in 2023 for violating policies and putting user safety at risk. Google also said it banned 333,000 “bad” accounts from Google Play that same year for repeated serious policy violations and concerns around fraud and malware.