One of the Google's main focuses in Android recently has been cutting back on permissions, for better or worse. The Play Store has been more restrictive on applications allowed to use SMS and calling permissions, which famously crippled apps like Cerberus and Watch Droid. Google announced today at I/O that the number of apps using these permissions has dropped by 98% in recent months.

The company said this drop was due to improved documentation and helping developers transition to other APIs, but pulling apps from the store using these abilities in now-blocked ways was likely a significant factor as well.