Google says fewer bad actors are slipping malicious apps into the Play Store—and it’s crediting a heavier mix of proactive defenses, tighter developer controls, and AI-assisted review for the drop.
In its latest Android app ecosystem safety report, published Thursday, February 19, 2026, Google said it blocked over 1.75 million policy-violating apps from being published on Google Play in 2025. That’s down from 2.36 million in 2024, and lower than the figures Google has cited for prior years.
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Check price on AmazonThe annual update outlines how Google reviews and monitors apps to protect Android users from threats ranging from malware and financial fraud to privacy abuses, deceptive subscriptions, and other policy violations.
Developer enforcement is down year over year
Google says it banned more than 80,000 “bad” developer accounts in 2025 tied to attempts to publish harmful or policy-violating apps. That number is also down from more than 158,000 in 2024, which Google presents as evidence that raising the barrier to entry is deterring repeat offenders and new abuse campaigns.
In its report, Google pointed to changes like developer verification, mandatory pre-review checks, and expanded testing requirements as key measures that “raised the bar” for publishing on Google Play—reducing the number of paths available for bad actors to get in.
AI and real-time defenses are doing more of the heavy lifting
Google says Google Play now runs over 10,000 safety checks on every app before it’s published, and continues rechecking apps after launch. The company also says it has integrated its latest generative AI models into the app review process, helping human reviewers identify more complex malicious patterns faster.
Google added that it plans to keep investing in AI-driven defenses through 2026 as threats evolve and adversaries adjust their tactics.
Abuse appears to be shifting outside the Play Store
Google also highlighted improvements around access to sensitive user data. It says it stopped over 255,000 apps from gaining “excessive” access to sensitive data—down sharply from 1.3 million in 2024—suggesting policy enforcement and developer guidance are narrowing permission misuse.
At the same time, the company says attackers may be avoiding the Play Store more often. Google reported that Google Play Protect identified more than 27 million new malicious apps from outside Google Play, warning users or blocking the apps from running. That’s up from 13 million in 2024.
Google also said it blocked 160 million spam ratings and reviews in 2025 and prevented an average 0.5-star rating drop for apps targeted by review bombing—signals that manipulation and social-engineering tactics remain a persistent problem even as Play Store publishing abuse declines.