4 ways your Android phone's Play Store could change soon, if Google loses Epic appeal

Google lost its legal fight, here's what that means for you

News By Hamish Hector published 8 October 2024

Following a years-long legal battle that began in 2020, Epic Games has finally come out ahead of Google with a US judge issuing a final ruling that the Android maker must open the Play Store to third-party rivals.

There are a lot of details to come from the ruling, so we’ve grouped the most important into four sections below to explain what the judge’s decision means for you.

There are two important things to note, however. The first is that Google has announced it’s appealing the verdict, adding in a statement that it will “ask the courts to pause implementing the remedies to maintain a consistent and safe experience for users and developers as the legal process moves forward.”

So while the following changes could happen, there’s a non-zero chance they won’t happen for some time (until after the appeal process is complete) or at all (if Google’s appeal is successful).

The other important detail is this ruling would only hold Google to these new rules for three years in the US – from November 1st, 2024, until November 1st, 2027. When the deadline passes we suspect Google won’t waste time returning the Play Store to how it was before the ruling, but we’ll have to wait and see. And if you live outside the US, Google won’t have to change a thing unless other similar rulings are passed there.

1. More choice

The biggest change for Android users will be they’ll have more choice in the app store they want to use, and finding those third-party stores will be easier.

That’s because Google will need to distribute these third-party store rivals through Google Play – so you’ll no longer need to go through the rigamarole of finding and downloading a third-party APK your phone warns you might be dangerous to install a non-Google Play Store app store.

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