Pixalate’s research into “abandoned” apps (2+ years with no update) finds that 101k+ likely child-directed mobile apps from the Apple App Store (27k) and Google Play Store (75k) are abandoned; Pixalate estimates $53 million in estimated global open programmatic ad spend on abandoned apps in Q3 2024
LONDON, November 13, 2024 -- Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising, today released the Q3 2024 Abandoned Mobile Apps Report, analyzing apps from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store that have been “abandoned.”
An app is considered abandoned by Pixalate if it has not been updated in at least two years. As of Q3 2024, over 1 million apps are found to be abandoned between the Google Play Store (332k) and Apple App Store (682k).
Abandoned apps may pose privacy risks for both children and consumers as updates to apps could incorporate not only bug fixes but also changes to data collection practices, consumer opt-in or age verification practices, and notices of privacy policy updates. In a note to developers regarding app abandonment, Apple emphasized the importance of keeping apps up-to-date to keep pace with “innovations in security and privacy.” Google says existing apps must be updated in order to “protect users from installing older apps that may not have these protections in place.” Non-updated apps remain on the Google Play Store but are not available to users on devices running Android OS higher than the app’s target level.
The full abandoned apps report includes:
To compile the research, Pixalate's data science team analyzed over 4.3 million mobile apps in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in Q3 2024. Pixalate’s report analyzes profile information about abandoned apps such as developer country of origin, app store category, and child-directedness under Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) (as determined by Pixalate). The report also contains insight into the apps’ behaviors in the programmatic advertising bid stream, such as transmission of personal information, location data, and estimated ad spend.
Download a free copy of the Google Play Store and Apple App Store reports:
About Pixalate
Pixalate is a global platform specializing in privacy compliance, ad fraud prevention, and digital ad supply chain data intelligence. Founded in 2012, Pixalate is trusted by regulators, data researchers, advertisers, publishers, ad tech platforms, and financial analysts across the Connected TV (CTV), mobile app, and website ecosystems. Pixalate is accredited by the MRC for the detection and filtration of Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT). pixalate.com
Disclaimer
The content of this press release, and the Abandoned Mobile Apps Report (the Report), reflect Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Pixalate's opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees. Pixalate is sharing this data not to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but, instead, to report findings and trends pertaining to programmatic advertising activity in the time period studied.
