HTC apps to return to Play Store after hiatus

The affected apps included HTC Mail, Sense Home, RE (for the company’s old standalone camera), HTC People, among others.

HTC apps will come back to Google Play Store. (REUTERS)

After a brief hiatus, HTC's applications are set to make a comeback to the Google Play Store.

According to the handset maker, the apps were removed in order to comply with the latest Google Play policy.

"Applications will be republished over the coming weeks as we deploy new updates. Below is a list of apps confirmed to be re-published and target dates (subject to change). We are continuing to review additional apps but have prioritised the below based on usage," the Android Police reported.

The affected apps included HTC Mail, Sense Home, RE (for the company's old standalone camera), HTC People, among others.

The Taiwanese smartphone maker had a rough 2018 when its revenue dropped to an all-time low. According to the handset maker's year-end 2018 numbers, HTC took in just NT$23.74 billion (or $770 million) during 2018, the lowest in all its years as a public company.

A year ago, rumour mills were abuzz that search engine giant Google would acquire HTC but the former ended up just buying HTC's Pixel team in a $1.1 billion deal. According to the deal, over 2,000 HTC engineers moving over to Google.

HTC's contract manufacturing operations and VR division were reportedly not affected, but a substantial majority of the smartphone R&D team went on to join Google.