Pixalate Releases Q1 2023 Abandoned Mobile Apps Report: 107% YoY Increase in Abandoned Apps From Google & Apple Sharing Personal Data With Advertisers

49% of likely child-directed apps from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store are abandoned (2+ years with no updates)

LONDON, May 11, 2023 -- Pixalate, the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising, today released the Q1 2023 Abandoned Mobile Apps Report, analyzing apps from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store that have been “abandoned.” An app is considered abandoned if it has not been updated in at least two years.

Abandoned apps pose risks for children and consumer privacy violations 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. The longer an app goes without a software update, the greater the risk that the app's consumer data handling practices are not up-to-date with the world's rapidly-evolving privacy protection regulations.

The report analyzes app profile information such as developer country of origin, existence of a privacy policy, app store category, and its child-directedness under the COPPA Rule. It also contains insight into the apps’ behaviors observed in the programmatic advertising bid stream such as transmission of personal information, location data, and estimated ad spend.

Key Findings:

• 1.97M+ abandoned apps in Q1 2023, +16% YoY increase, from 1.69M+ in Q1 2022
• Super-abandoned apps: 62%+ YoY increase (up to 401k) among Google apps; -38% YoY decrease in Apple App Store (down to 202k)
• $4.6M+ estimated programmatic ad spend on abandoned apps in Q1 2023, -53% YoY decrease from $10M+ in Q1 2022
• 45% (21k+) of apps registered in Russia are abandoned, 41% (33k+) in China, and 37% (138k+) in the U.S.
• +107% YoY increase in abandoned apps with ads transmitting geo location and user IP address in ad bid stream
• 49% (70k+) of likely child-directed apps are abandoned and 27% (39k) “super-abandoned”, in the Apple App Store as of Q1 2023

Pixalate’s Abandoned Mobile Apps Report: Q1 2023 includes:

• By App Store Analysis
• Programmatic Ads Analysis
• Transparency Analysis
• Country of Registry Analysis
• App Store Category Analysis
• Likely Child-Directed App Analysis
• Abandoned Developers Analysis

Download a free copy of the report today:

About Pixalate

Pixalate is the market-leading fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform for Connected TV (CTV) and Mobile Advertising. We work 24/7 to guard your reputation and grow your media value. Pixalate offers the only system of coordinated solutions across display, app, video, and CTV for better detection and elimination of ad fraud. Pixalate is an MRC-accredited service for the detection and filtration of sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) across desktop and mobile web, mobile in-app, and CTV advertising. www.pixalate.com

Disclaimer

The content of this press release, and the Abandoned Mobile Apps Report: Q1 2023 (the "Report"), reflect Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes can 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 across mobile apps in the time period studied.