Zombie Apps Fade as App Stores Clean Up

Historical Context

Back when mobile apps were just taking off, zombie apps were everywhere. In 2014, Adjust said about 83% of iOS App Store apps were basically invisible. Most of these never showed up in the charts and were almost impossible to find.

Not much changed in 2015. The number of invisible apps stayed close to 83%. To avoid being called a zombie app, an app had to show up in the top lists at least two out of every three days each month, but most apps just didn’t make the cut. In some places zombie rate even hit 90% by year 2016. So even though there were tons of apps only a few actually got noticed.

Current Landscape

Now, app stores are getting stricter. Google Play started 2024 with about 3.4 million apps, but by April 2025, that number dropped by about 1.8 million. Google says this is to make things safer and better for users. Apple’s total stayed steady at around 1.64 million apps, but Pixalate says Apple still removed about 336,500 apps in one year. That’s a big shift. The way people find apps is changing too. Instead of just looking at what’s popular, both Apple and Google now use search ads and their own recommendations to help people find new apps.

But app stores aren’t the only way people find new apps. A lot of people still discover apps through news stories, word of mouth, and ads. Ads are still one of the main ways to get an app noticed. A zombie app is still an app that almost no one uses. The number of zombie apps changes every year and depends on the platform. Main goal is always remains to get your app noticed - whether that’s through ads, search or recommendations from people you trust.