While the number of apps on Google Play grew by 30 per cent to more than 3.6 million in 2017, the number on the Apple App Store actually shrunk.

That’s according to research by Appfigures, which claimed that by the end of 2017 there were around 2.1 million iOS apps on the App Store, down five per cent from 2.2 million at the beginning of the year.

Sharp decline

The number of titles released on the App Store last year is said to be 755,000 - a drop of 29 per cent from the year prior. That’s the first ever decline in the number of new app launches.

Google Play developers meanwhile shipped 1.5 million new apps, an increase of 17 per cent year-on-year - the largest rise since 2014.

Appfigures stated that the App Store decline is likely the result of stricter enforcement of Apple’s guidelines and the elimination of apps that don’t support 64-bit architecture.

Across Android and iOS, US developers were responsible for 33.5 per cent of new app releases in 2017, while Chinese developers had the second most making up 15.9 per cent.

The number of apps released by Chinese developers continues to grow year-on-year, though growth in 2017 was much slower than the extra 100,000 apps released in 2016 compared to 2015.

You can check out the full Appfigures report here.

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