1.5 Million Legacy Apps That Can't 'Update', Disappear from Play Store and App Store

application stores Apple App Store and Google Play Store reportedly hide millions applications that are no longer updated by developers.

These apps are hidden or removed from the App Store and Play Store catalogs, so iOS and Android users can't find them.

According to a report by analyst firm Pixalate, a total of 28 percent of apps on the Play Store and App Store have been updated in the last six months.

However, the number of older applications that were not updated by the developer was also quite large. Pixelate estimates that there are a third of obsolete apps from the total apps on the App Store and Play Store.

Pixalate says there are a total of 1.5 apps in the App Store and Play Store that haven't been updated in the last two years, if not longer. In accordance with the company's new policy, the apps are then hidden or removed from the store catalog.

When detailed, Pixalate reports that there are around 869,000 legacy apps hidden in the Play Store catalog, while in the App Store there are around 650,000 apps. Why should old apps that don't get updates be deleted or hidden?

Apps that don't receive updates for two years or more are considered vulnerable to exploits, thereby harming users' devices. Therefore, Apple and Google set a new policy that allows companies to crack down on such apps.

Google's new policy stipulates that apps with these categories will be hidden from the Play Store catalog. In addition, the application will also not appear in search results.

The same applies to Apple in the App Store. Summarized blogbebasapaaja from Cnet,one developer said that their application would be deleted if it did not roll out updates for more than two years.

Applications that are frequently updated are more desirable

Despite the number of hidden apps in the Play Store and App Store, the number of frequently updated apps dominates.

According to a Pixalate report, 68 percent or more of the 3.1 million apps in the App Store and Play Store, have been updated in the last two years.

Pixalate also shows that the more frequently the app is updated, the more users tend to download it. The percentage reaches 84 percent of applications, with more than 100 million downloads.