“Fewer Users” Warning Hurting Specialized and New Apps

Warning banner behavior & perceived intent

• Users and developers report a new Play Store banner: “This app has fewer users than others…”, shown on some apps without notifying developers.
• Many see it as a blunt heuristic for “low trust / possible scam” apps, akin to labeling the thousands of fake “Bank of Whatever” or “ChatGPT” clones.
• Others note the message is vague: having few users is the default for new and niche apps and is not itself evidence of low quality or fraud.

Anti-competitive, ad-driven, and monopoly concerns

• Strong sentiment that the banner entrenches incumbents and punishes new or specialized apps, especially those competing with Google’s own products.
• Several point out that Google support suggested buying ads as a way to improve the situation, reinforcing suspicion that this is aligned with ad revenue rather than safety.
• Comparisons are made to PageRank, modern SEO, and Google Search’s tendency to favor already-popular, mass-market results.

Security vs. overreach: who should be “the cop”?

• One camp argues Google must aggressively block obvious fraud (fake bank apps, trademark squats) instead of offloading risk to users via crude warnings.
• Another warns that expecting a megacorp to act as prosecutor, judge, and enforcer inevitably leads to cheap, overbroad measures that crush legitimate small devs.
• Some say real consumer protection should come from regulation and governments, not platform owners.

Developer burden and platform “enshittification”

• Complaints about broader Play Store trends: DUNS requirements, mandatory QA panels, forced updates or account closure for “stale” apps, rising target SDKs, opaque reviews, and spammy/fake reviews.
• Niche and hardware-control apps, or “done” apps with no need for updates, are especially hurt by forced churn and low-usage stigma.
• Devs describe Google tooling (Play Console, Ads, AdMob) as hostile, under-supported, and arbitrarily punitive.

Comparisons, alternatives, and proposed metrics

• Apple is seen as more human-friendly despite also restricting “me-too” apps; F-Droid and web distribution are praised as healthier, more neutral channels.
• Some suggest better signals: “frequently uninstalled” or “frequently reported” would be more meaningful than “fewer users.”
• Overall, many see the banner as part of a larger arc: closed ecosystems prioritizing engagement, ad revenue, and optics over diversity, innovation, and developer viability.