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Recent data shows that Android apps have been abandoned without updating in greater volume than iOS or iPad apps, and the lack of attention can put users at risk. Here’s how the numbers compare.
Apps that haven’t been updated for a while can pose a security risk to users, and a report released Tuesday by Pixalate shows that Android app abandonment has increased in recent years. Lack of a privacy policy is also a common feature of these apps, with 23% of abandoned apps having none.
Pixalate’s analysis defines abandon as an app that hasn’t been updated for at least two years. There are varying levels of neglect, and the company studies apps in countries that rank in the top 12 based on the total number of apps available for download in each app market.
Developers abandoned more than 1.6 million apps between April 1, 2022 and June 30, 2022. The report shows a 29% decrease in abandoned apps still available on Apple’s App Store, while apps orphans on the Google Play Store increased by 16%.
Overall, apps registered in China and Russia face the highest probability of abandonment, at 42%. Kids’ apps saw 37% abandonment, with 75,000 on the App Store and 81,000 on the Google Play Store.
The report also claims that about 14,000 of these abandoned apps had sent geolocation data to advertisers.
Over the past six months, more developers have abandoned apps on Google Play than updated them. More than 32% were abandoned, compared to around 30% of apps that received updates in the same time frame.
The report also mentions “super abandoned apps” that have not been updated for more than five years on the App Store or Google Play Store, numbering 306,000 and growing. Those that haven’t been updated for more than three years include more than 840,000 apps.
These results are similar to searches from May 2022, where Pixalate found that 650,000 App Store apps hadn’t been updated in over two years, as well as 869,000 Google Play Store apps.
Apple issued a warning to developers in April 2022, saying it would remove apps from the App Store if they didn’t receive an update within a “significant” time frame. It purged several thousand, with some developers complaining that since the app was stable and still working on iOS 15, it shouldn’t have been removed.
Removal of Apple’s App Store does not affect apps already downloaded to devices, unless the server-side assets are no longer available. The update requirement only applies to data hosted by the App Store and the list itself.