A new leak suggests that 2.5 billion Google Play Store users could soon see apps disappear with the introduction of a new filter. But the unanswered question is why?

Google's building a new way to filter the apps you see in the Play Store, and we've got some questions about what it's for.

The Google Play Store is working on a new filter in Settings to avoid certain app types in recommendations and searches. There's some ambiguity about what this filter is supposed to do, with Google's support page document not live yet.

The Play Store app purge focuses on lower-quality, likely higher-risk apps, most of which are free but which open users to malware or fraudulent ads or subs. And now, even when apps have not yet been flagged by Google, Android 15’s new live treat detection can flag risks as soon as they exhibit suspicious behavior on your phone.