For the first time ever the number of apps in the App Store declined according to a new report by AppFigures.

AppFigures says 2017 where growth halted with the number of apps on the store declined during the year from 2.2 million to 2.1 million.

The reason behind this drop the analytics company says is a ‘stricter enforcement of Apple’s review guidelines’ and a rule where if the app did not support 64-bit architecture it would be removed from the store.

Apple is also making sure duplicates of apps such as virus scanning software are not apparent on the App Store.

AppFigures says last year Google Play released more than 1.5 million new apps but the App Store only released 755,000.

In 2017 the gap between the App Store and Google Play was the biggest its ever been with more than one million apps added to Google Play compared to App Store.

Google Play has been growing more than Apple since 2012.

Source: AppFigures