Latest news with #appPricing
The Sun
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Android owners warned over new apps on Google Play Store that could empty bank accounts of whopping £5,000
ANDROID owners should be wary of a big change coming to the Google Play Store that means some apps could cost thousands to install. Google has just raised its pricing limit from £1,000 to £4,999, according to Android Authority. 1 The tech giant bumped its maximum app prices from £200 to £400 in 2015, and then again last year to £1,000. The price limit applies worldwide - except South Korea, which will stick to the equivalent of a £400 maximum. So if you see any blisteringly expensive apps on the Play Store - it's not a glitch, or a joke. You don't want to accidentally buy something you cannot really afford. And they're not scams either. Google has made sure these apps have to prove themselves before whacking on such a lofty price tag. For example, only established developers in good standing with Google are eligible. These apps must also prove they are bringing in at least $1million a year in app sales. Then they can formally request Google give them the uplift, after explaining exactly why the pricing is justified. Google's Gemini AI app lets you chat out loud with shockingly humanlike virtual helper It's not yet clear what type of apps could cost so much - or who would be buying them. Although the appetite for artificial intelligence (AI) applications could explain it. Google itself recently introduced an eye-watering $3,000 per year subscription for AI Ultra - so it's no surprise these big numbers are on the brain. Currently, the most expensive app on the Google Play Store appears to be a spoof game called Fisherpunk, which costs an eyewatering £300. Despite its price, and incredibly basic design, Fisherpunk has been downloaded more than 1,000 times. On the rival Apple Store, CyberTuner, a software tool for tuning pianos, is available for a whopping £999. WHAT CAN GOOGLE PLAY PROTECT DO? Google Play Protect can help shield Android owners from dodgy apps. Here's the official list of actions it'll take... It runs a safety check on apps from the Google Play Store before you download them. It checks your device for potentially harmful apps from other sources. These harmful apps are sometimes called malware. It warns you about potentially harmful apps. It may deactivate or remove harmful apps from your device. It warns you about detected apps that violate our Unwanted Software Policy by hiding or misrepresenting important information. It sends you privacy alerts about apps that can get user permissions to access your personal information, violating our developer policy. It may reset app permissions to protect your privacy on certain Android versions. It may prevent an application from being installed that is unverified and uses sensitive device permissions that are commonly targeted by scammers to commit financial fraud. Picture Credit: Google
Android Authority
22-05-2025
- Business
- Android Authority
Would you spend $5,000 on an app? Google just made that a real possibility
TL;DR Google Play just raised its pricing limit to just under $5,000. The last big increase was this time last year, going from $400 to $1,000. Only established developers earning $1M a year can qualify for this pricing level. We'd say that a great app is worth its weight in gold, but apps don't technically weigh anything, and developers are far more interested in being paid with hard currency. The point remains, though: Software development is no small task, and we are more than happy to compensate the talented coders who work so hard to produce the huge library of apps our phones have access to. While it's easy to justify paying $5 or $10 for a solid app, is there some upper limit? On the Play Store there absolutely is, but Google just sent that ceiling up into the stratosphere. Google started out by slowly raising its limit for the maximum value for app pricing. We saw it rise from $200 to $400 back in 2015, and only just last year did Google bump the figure again, this time all the way to $1,000. Apparently even that huge increase was insufficient, because Google is once again revisiting Play Store pricing, and has set a new limit of just under $5,000. In many markets around the world, the same limit applies, just converted to your local currency. The big exception there is South Korea, which has been sticking with the old $400 maximum. Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority Before you start getting worried about a bunch of garbage apps trying to trick you into shelling out a stupid amount of cash, Google seems well aware of the potential for abuse here, and is locking this new limit behind some important safeguards. Only established developers in good standing with Google are eligible, and even then only when they're bringing in at least a million dollars a year in app sales. Google's not automatically raising the limit for them, either, and developers will need to reach out to Google with a formal request, including spelling out exactly why this kind of pricing is justified. The limit applies not just to apps themselves, but also in-app purchases (IAPs) and subscriptions. With Google itself recently introducing an eye-watering $3,000 per year subscription for Gemini AI Ultra, we can certainly appreciate why the company has big numbers like these on its mind. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
