London, April 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pixalate, a leading global platform for ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics, today released the March 2025 Delisted Mobile Apps Reports for the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The reports analyze apps delisted in March, including those enabled for programmatic advertising. The reports include a list of the top delisted apps by app store with programmatic advertising (based on the presence of an app-ads.txt file).
The report identifies applications that are no longer available for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, according to Pixalate’s data. Delisted apps do not indicate who initiated the delisting action, i.e., Apple, Google, or the app developer.
While some apps are delisted for benign reasons, others are removed due to more nefarious behaviors, including ad fraud and non-compliance with privacy regulations or app store policies, which may expose advertisers to potential financial or legal risks. Because apps can be delisted for various reasons, Pixalate neither asserts nor assigns a reason for any delisting action. Additionally, it is generally not publicly available information as to who the initiator of the delisting is, so it is often not possible to know whether the app store or the developer triggered the removal.
Pixalate’s research focuses on app profile information. It provides various insights observed in the programmatic advertising bid stream, such as the developer’s country of registry, the level of app abandonment, and the number of delisted apps with advertising (as indicated by an app-ads.txt file).
Key Findings: Delisted Mobile Apps (March 2025)
Google Play Store
- Delisted apps: 48K apps delisted in March 2025, down 50% from February 2025
- 13K apps delisted were enabled for programmatic advertising (i.e., had declared an app-ads.txt file) in March 2025
- Country of origin: United States-registered apps had the highest number of delistings (1,835) in the Google Play Store, followed by India (1,089) in March 2025
- 82% of apps delisted from the Google Play Store in March 2025 had no listed country of registration
- Of apps that did have a country of registration, 3,783 were registered in Asia-Pacific (APAC), which is the highest among global regions, followed by 2,682 in EMEA, 1,956 in North America, and 499 in LATAM, according to Pixalate
Google Play Store: Top 5 Delisted Apps in March 2025 (by downloads)
| 1 | com.motorola.imagertuning_V2 | Moto Camera Tuner 4 | 100.0M | Motorola Mobility LLC. |
| 2 | com.racing.car.crash.turbo | Crazy for Speed | 50.0M | MAGIC SEVEN |
| 3 | com.jrdcom.filemanager | File Manager-Easy & Smart | 50.0M | mie-alcatel.support |
| 4 | com.omnewgentechnologies.vottak | Shorts VotTak: Short Video App | 50.0M | Om Newgen Technologies |
| 5 | com.greenteagames.dogracing3d | Dog Run Pet Runner Dog Game | 50.0M | Green Tea Games |
Apple App Store
- Delisted apps: 59K apps delisted in March 2025, up 19% from February 2025
- 5,337 apps delisted were enabled for programmatic advertising (i.e., an app-ads.txt file) in March 2025
- Country of origin: United States-registered apps had the highest number of delistings (1,910) in the Apple App Store, followed by China (684) and India (448) in March 2025
- 88% of apps delisted from the Apple App Store in March 2025 had no listed country of registration
- Of apps that did have a country of registration, 2,507 were registered in APAC, which is the highest among global regions, followed by 2,094 in North America, 2,009 in EMEA, and 230 in LATAM, according to Pixalate
Apple App Store: Top 5 Delisted Apps in March 2025 (by downloads)
| Rank | App ID | App Title | Estimated User Ratings | Developer Name |
| 1 | 1516798037 | Pocket Sniper! | 190.6K | JP Group limited |
| 2 | 6587574293 | VPN - Топ Быстрое Подключение | 128.6K | Free Fast Connect LLC |
| 3 | 1498751007 | Stick Warriors - God Infinity | 117.7K | Doan Thanh |
| 4 | 6479394113 | Otium Word: Relax Puzzle Game | 101.2K | Palmax Group Limited |
| 5 | 1641675214 | Tic Tac Toe: 2 Player XO | 87.7K | Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen |
To compile this research, Pixalate’s data science and analyst team analyzed 2 million apps delisted from the Apple App Store and 5.6 million apps delisted from the Google Play Store between January 2021 and March 2025.
Download the complete reports here:
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 Google Play Store & Apple App Store Delisted Mobile Apps Reports (the ‘Reports’), reflect Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Any data shared is grounded in Pixalate’s proprietary technology and analytics, which Pixalate is continuously evaluating and updating. Any references to outside sources should not be construed as endorsements. 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.
Nina Talcott ntalcott@pixalate.com
