A federal judge has ordered Google to remove unnecessary barriers that make it harder for Android users to install competing app stores through Google Play, setting a seven day deadline for the changes.
Epic Games and Google have reached a global partnership agreement, but the two companies remain on opposite sides of a US antitrust case. Google lost that case in 2023, and the years since have been spent determining how to remedy its anticompetitive conduct. A central part of the court’s order requires Google Play to include app stores from third parties, giving users a straightforward path to software from outside Google’s own marketplace. Aptoide Games recently became the first store of this kind to appear.
Google fought to prevent that outcome. It attempted to reach a settlement with Epic that would keep third party stores out, and after Aptoide was admitted under the court’s ruling, the company did not exactly promote the new option. At a Thursday hearing, Judge Donato found Google’s implementation lacking, according to The Verge.
Epic lawyer Yonatan Even showed the court that although a link to the alternative app store page exists in Google Play, it is buried several levels deep in the menus. Search queries for terms like ‘app store’ and ‘aptoide’ did not produce the intended results in the way other searches do. Instead, the Play Store surfaces an ‘are you looking for’ banner that links to the page for third party stores.
Google’s lawyers argued that Epic had already accepted that app stores occupy a special category because of their expanded permissions, which made the extra step reasonable. Judge Donato disagreed. “That is not acceptable,” he said. “That has to be fixed. I want every possible variation that’s even only 70 percent properly phrased.”
A second issue concerned the installation process itself. Once a user reaches the page featuring Aptoide, and any stores added later, there is no install button like the one found on ordinary apps and games. A ‘view’ button appears instead, which opens another dialog before installation can start. Judge Donato said this extra step was unnecessary and appeared intended to discourage users from downloading alternative stores. He instructed Google to replace ‘view’ with ‘install.’
Google’s legal team agreed to make the changes. Judge Donato gave the company one week to complete them and told the lawyers to contact him if that deadline posed any problem. A smoother installation process for alternative app stores is now expected shortly.
The fix may also open the door for Epic. Once the revised flow is in place, Epic could finally take advantage of the ruling it pursued for years and launch its own storefront inside Google Play. For the moment, Aptoide is the only alternative store available.
The coming update is meant to make alternative app stores as accessible as standard Google Play apps.
