Prepare, Android customers: Google will start letting individuals obtain third-party apps from the Google Play Retailer subsequent week, Bloomberg reviews. This information comes after the five-year antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Video games, the creator of the in style online game Fortnite, concluded on Tuesday.
House owners of Android telephones within the US will have the ability to obtain third-party apps beginning on July 22.
Epic Video games sued Google in 2020, claiming that Google’s Play Retailer operated as an illegal monopoly by proscribing quick access to third-party providers, comparable to app shops and non-Google cost strategies.
In late 2023, the court docket dominated in Epic’s favor, and US District Decide James Donato issued a sweeping order requiring Google to open the Play Retailer to rival app shops.
In November 2025, the 2 corporations reached a settlement to switch this order, proposing an alternate answer that was made public in March of this 12 months. The compromise would take the type of a Registered App Shops program, requiring third-party shops to stay exterior the Play ecosystem as sideloaded apps slightly than inside Google Play.
Then, each corporations collectively withdrew this modified settlement to keep away from “prolonging” the authorized course of. Because the compromise was scrapped, Google reverted to complying with the court docket’s unique, stricter mandate.
The corporate launched a devoted web page for its Play Catalog Entry Program, asserting that third-party app shops might be downloadable instantly from inside Google Play beginning July 22. App builders may have higher visibility for his or her merchandise, and their video games and functions might be listed on exterior Android app shops.
Google’s service charges will proceed to use to those downloads, whereas the corporate lowered its app buy commissions from 30% all the way down to 10%. As a part of the settlement, builders are actually allowed to supply customers various cost strategies or to distribute buy hyperlinks to their very own web sites.
Google spokesperson Dan Jackson advised CNET in an announcement that by shifting previous this dispute, the tech large can deal with launching its new world enterprise technique aimed toward offering extra retailer selections, decrease costs and higher alternatives for customers and builders.
Jackson emphasised that whereas Google will strictly adjust to the US court docket’s unique mandate, it is “dedicated to sustaining Android’s industry-leading safety and fostering a aggressive ecosystem the place each app retailer and developer has the liberty to compete.”
