2d ago

Google’s Play Store lost nearly half its apps

www.theverge.com

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2d ago

Google’s Play Store lost nearly half its apps

www.theverge.com /news/658932/google-play-store-lost-half-apps

11 comments

The Google Play Store shed 1.8 million apps since the beginning of last year, according to an analysis from Appfigures and reported earlier by TechCrunch.
In recent years, Google has ramped up efforts to crack down on spammy and low-quality apps. In 2023, the company started carrying out more thorough app reviews and began requiring developers to test their apps with at least 20 people for two weeks. It began purging apps with “limited functionality and content” last year, and announced in January that it blocked 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being published to the Play Store.
"shed" was definitely a better choice
- About fucking time.
  RIP Tasker.
  João, Tasker's dev, already gets hit with enough random shit from Google because of how many permissions, accessibility items, and other things that Tasker requests.
  I've been subscribed to his Patreon for several years, and if you're a paying member, one of your perks is that João offers a free (yeah I know, "free") APK download not tied to Google Play services, with permanent licenses. A few months ago, I finally just said "fuck google in the ass for this", uninstalled the Play Store version from my phone, and got my Patreon Tasker APK.
  Also I just checked and apparently I have 53 licenses available...
  
  Tasker shows in the play store for me still, or is that because I have it installed..?
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm&hl=en-US
  
  It's been temporarily pulled more than a few times due to the ever-increasing requirements.
  
  Its still there. But, he is saying it can be removed if this continues with google.
  
  Thanks for the reminder to backup all my important apps, including Tasker.
  
  You can download the APks from his patreon if you subscribe. Someone mentioned buying lifetime license and I saw the price was $4 for one device. You can buy multiple licenses if you need more.

11 comments