The number of apps removed from the Google Play Store has reached a record in February, with almost 60,000 apps being shown the door, in what is the biggest effort so far to clean things up in the store.
Not all of the apps have been removed by Google, says TechCrunch, quoting a company in the mobile industry with knowledge of the matter. Some were taken off by their publishers, for various reasons. Most of the removals have been made by Google though, for breaching the Play Store Developer program policies (it’s what happened to AdBlock Plus, an app that continues to be developed, but outside of the Play Store).
Although the Google Play Store (which is getting a bit of a redesign soon) has a different vetting policy from Apple’s App Store (apps are scanned after they are added to the store, while Apple pre-approves them), that doesn’t mean Google is not strict about what is allowed and what not. The company is permanently searching for and deleting apps that don’t comply. The same source says that most of the removed apps were in the MP3/ringtone category, which is a definite breach of the copyright section of the policies, that clearly states:
Don’t infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, (including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, and other proprietary rights), or encourage or induce infringement of intellectual property rights. We will respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement
On the other hand, the same report says that Google Play Store’s app number is officially at 700,000 apps, just as it was in October (and leading in number of downloads, according to a recent Canalys research), so there’s a lot to choose from. (AndroidAuthority)
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