Fake and low-quality apps on Play Store to be 'punished' based on new metrics

In the recently concluded Google I/O annual developer conference, which was held over the weekend in California, the search giant announced a new metric and plan of action to shape up the quality of Android apps.

Google's Play Store previously faced several issues regarding Fake apps, malware apps, and low-quality apps in the past few years. The company has of course taken a few measures to make sure that it doesn't get out of hand, and the new move is likely to further that aim by completely getting rid of any unwanted apps.

No more Mr. nice guy

Unlike Apple, who implements a stringent and strict process before allowing apps on the App Store, Google has somewhat had a more relaxed approach to its own marketplace. Android has always been a place for startup developers, which facilitates more creativity. However, the downside of this approach is that the quality of the apps found on the Play Store has suffered over the years. A lot of apps that are currently live on the Play Store are prone to freezing, crashing, or uncontrollably sipping a smartphone's battery.

A new metric

Google announced a brand new app Metric System, called Android Vitals, that is aimed at weeding out all of the unwanted apps currently still found on the Play Store.

The new metric will of course not only benefit the end user but also benefit developers to help them develop better software and to track their app's performance. The new metric shows an app's different performance data.

App scorecard

Android Vitals tracks different kinds of data for each app. For instance, the total number of times an app has crashed will be logged. This also includes cases like when the app is not responding, has slow rendering speeds, and has frozen frames. Data that relates to battery usage are also tracked.

This will include metrics such as how long the app will be keeping the device awake or the number of times it keeps waking the device within an hour.

Taking out the trash

Aside from announcing the new metrics, Google also revealed during the event that they would be taking immediate action on the apps that are found in the bottom 25 percent.

The company didn't outright mention their removal, but they did say that they will base the app's "promotability" depending on its scores. This means that apps that do not meet the required score will essentially disappear from the Google Play Store's search results, which is really the same as removing it altogether.