London, May 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pixalate, the leading global platform for ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics, today released the April 2025 Delisted Mobile Apps Reports for the United States (U.S.) Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The reports analyze apps delisted in April, including those enabled for programmatic advertising. The reports include a list of the top delisted apps by app store, enabled for 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 U.S. 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 (April 2025)
Google Play Store
- Delisted apps: 62K apps delisted in April 2025, representing a 28% increase from March 2025
- 17,600 apps delisted were enabled for programmatic advertising (i.e., had declared an app-ads.txt file) in April 2025
- Country of origin: United States-registered apps had the highest number of delistings (1,978) in the Google Play Store, followed by India (1,613) in April 2025
- Among the apps that provided a country of registration, 5,616 were registered in Asia-Pacific (APAC), which is the highest among global regions, followed by 3,602 in EMEA, 2,137 in North America, and 788 in LATAM, according to Pixalate
Google Play Store: Top 5 Delisted Apps in April 2025 (by downloads)
| Rank | App ID | App Title | Estimated Downloads | Developer Name |
| 1 | com.vivo.browser | Vivo Browser | 1B | PT. Vivo Mobile Indonesia |
| 2 | com.rexetstudio.blockstrike | Block Strike: BS Shooter | 50M | Shooter Games Online |
| 3 | com.rubycell.pianisthd | Piano + | 50M | FunAIs JSC |
| 4 | com.eers.kraft.eerskraft | Eerskraft | 50M | Gooogame |
| 5 | com.hatsune.eagleee | Scooper News: Local To Global | 50M | Transbyte App |
Apple App Store
- Delisted apps: 44K apps delisted in April 2025, down 26% from March 2025
- 3,645 apps delisted were enabled for programmatic advertising (i.e., an app-ads.txt file) in April 2025
- Country of origin: United States-registered apps had the highest number of delistings (1,495) in the Apple App Store, followed by China (539) and India (302) in April 2025
- Among the apps that provided a country of registration, 1,655 were registered in APAC, which is the highest among global regions, followed by 1,592 in North America, 1,419 in EMEA, and 155 in LATAM, according to Pixalate
Apple App Store: Top 5 Delisted Apps in April 2025 (by downloads)
| Rank | App ID | App Title | Estimated User Ratings | Developer Name |
| 1 | 663294738 | DMM 動画プレイヤー | 565.9K | DMM.com LLC |
| 2 | 1356882421 | ZombsRoyale.io | 135.2K | Yangcheng Liu |
| 3 | 1478507005 | Draw Car 3D | 79.7K | Voodoo |
| 4 | 1470463729 | Water Shooty | 79.0K | Rollic Games Oyun Yazilim ve Pazarlama Anonim Sirketi |
| 5 | 1546250718 | Dodge Master! | 62.9K | Rollic Games Oyun Yazilim ve Pazarlama Anonim Sirketi |
To compile this research, Pixalate’s data science and analyst team analyzed over 2 million apps delisted from the United States Apple App Store and over 5.7 million apps delisted from the United States Google Play Store between January 2021 and April 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 US Google Play Store & US 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.
