In 2024, Google rejected 2.3 million Android app submissions to the Play Store for policy violations that posed potential risks to users.
Additionally, 158,000 developer accounts were banned for attempting to distribute harmful apps, including malware and spyware, on Android’s official app marketplace.
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For comparison, Google blocked 2.28 million risky apps in 2023 and 1.5 million in 2022. The number of banned developer accounts stood at 333,000 in 2023 and 173,000 in 2022.
The increase in blocked apps in 2024 is partly due to AI assisting human reviews, which played a role in 92% of cases involving violations.
“Currently, AI assists in over 92% of our human reviews for harmful apps, enabling us to take faster and more precise action to prevent harmful apps from appearing on Google Play,” Google stated.
“This has allowed us to stop more malicious apps than ever before from reaching users through the Play Store, safeguarding them from potential harm before any damage can occur.”
In addition to blocking and rejecting apps, Google also reported preventing 1.3 million apps from requesting excessive permissions that would have granted unnecessary access to sensitive user data.
In 2024, Google Play Protect, Android’s built-in security system, received major upgrades to strengthen real-time protection against malicious apps, scams, and fraud—even for apps installed from outside the Play Store.
According to Google, Android’s default security suite scanned over 200 billion apps daily, conducting live code-level analysis. Throughout the year, these scans detected more than 13 million new malware apps originating from outside Google Play.
To help developers safeguard their apps, Google introduced new tools to protect against malicious SDKs and abuse. The Google Play SDK Index also saw significant growth, adding 80 more trusted SDKs.
Additionally, the increased adoption of the Play Integrity API led to an 80% decrease in abuse from untrusted sources. Meanwhile, 91% of app installs now leverage security and privacy features available in Android 13 and later. Learn how to create mobile apps.
Google’s untrusted APK installation blocking system, initially piloted in Singapore in February 2024, has now expanded to Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In 2024, the system successfully prevented 36 million installation attempts of 200,000 unique apps from infiltrating 10 million Android devices.
While Google continues to enhance Android security each year, gaps remain, and cybercriminals are constantly developing more sophisticated techniques to evade automated detection systems.
