US judge forces Google to let third-party app stores on the Play Store

If the injunction stands, Google will be forced to let companies like Epic and Amazon distribute their own stores, and all developers will have alternatives to Google for in-app purchases.

Unlike the iPhone, Android users have been able to side-load apps on their phones since day one. But in the wake of the United States’ antitrust case against Google, one judge says that isn’t good enough. Google will be forced to allow third-party companies to distribute their own Android app stores on the Google Play Store, no sideloading required.

Ars Technica reports that US federal judge James Donato has delivered an injunction that will force Google to allow third parties like Epic Games and Amazon to load up their own apps that distribute other apps to users, which currently violates the Play Store’s terms of service.

Those stores — presumably the Epic Games Store and Amazon Appstore, respectively — would then allow users to purchase and install other apps completely outside of Google’s semi-closed system, and outside of its lucrative monetization platform. That was certainly Epic’s goal when it brought the initial suit in 2020 following its attempt to sell Fortnite in-app purchases without giving Google the standard 30 percent cut. Google will also be barred from forcing app developers to sell in-app purchases only via the Play Store.

Donato is also taking aim at Google’s cozy (or heavy-handed, depending on whom you ask) relationships with phone makers and carriers. For three years starting on November 1st, Google won’t be allowed to force phone makers or carriers to pre-install the Play Store to get access to other Google services, like Search and Gmail. Google won’t be able to stop them from pre-installing other app stores, either. The judge said that this three-year period is designed specifically to allow Google’s competitors to “level the playing field” in the app space.

Predictably, Google is already planning to appeal the injunction, which will likely push its enforcement past the November 1st date and possibly into next year even if it’s upheld. But Google’s control of Android as a platform is looking shaky. In addition to years of regulatory actions in the European Union, the United States Department of Justice has said that it’s considering forcing Google to break off the Play Store, Android itself, or the Chrome browser-slash-operating system into separate companies, or sell them entirely. That would be the country’s most sweeping antitrust action in this century.

Frankly, any of that actually happening seems like a long shot in the current political climate. But it’s clear that Google’s don’t-call-it-a-walled-garden approach to the Android ecosystem is under serious regulatory fire. Major change of some kind seems inevitable at this point — the only questions will be exactly how big that change is, and how it will affect the market and the billions of people who use Android every day.