{"id":1089995,"date":"2026-07-15T04:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T04:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1089995\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T04:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T04:12:14","slug":"google-and-epic-give-up-fighting-third-party-android-app-stores-are-coming-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1089995\/","title":{"rendered":"Google and Epic give up fighting \u2014 third-party Android app stores are coming next week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Epic Games and Google have just jointly withdrawn their attempt to retroactively settle the lawsuit<\/a> that\u2019s changing how Android app stores work in the United States \u2014 and that means Google will be forced to carry rival app stores inside of its own. In fact, Google tells the court, it\u2019s ready to begin carrying third-party app stores on Wednesday, July 22nd. Does that mean it\u2019s time for Microsoft to launch an Xbox game store on Android<\/a>?<\/p>\n

But Judge James Donato was skeptical he should abandon his original permanent injunction in favor of Google\u2019s proposed \u201cRegistered App Stores\u201d that users would have to sideload, instead of downloading third-party stores directly through Google Play. On Thursday, July 16th, both parties were set to appear in court to argue it again<\/a> \u2014 but that may no longer be necessary.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s is Google\u2019s full statement on withdrawing its proposed modifications to Judge Donato\u2019s permanent injunction, via Google spokesperson Dan Jackson:<\/p>\n

\n

We\u2019ve agreed with Epic to withdraw our motion to modify the US Court\u2019s injunction rather than prolonging this process which creates uncertainty for the ecosystem. This allows us to focus on executing our recently announced<\/a> global business model evolution to deliver greater app store choice, lower prices, and more opportunities for developers and users. We remain committed to maintaining Android\u2019s industry-leading security and fostering a competitive ecosystem where every app store and developer has the freedom to compete. In parallel, we continue to comply with the US Court\u2019s injunction.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Google had previously announced that it would launch its sideloaded Registered App Store program in the rest of the world, beginning with the new version of Android later this year. That means there may be two different tracks for Android: stores-within-a-store in the United States, and Registered App Stores everywhere else.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not yet clear if there will be a parallel \u201cprogram\u201d for third-party app stores inside of the Google Play Store, or if companies will simply submit them as their own apps. Technically, the court\u2019s permanent injunction states that Google \u201cmay not prohibit the distribution of third-party Android app distribution platforms or stores through the Google Play Store,\u201d not that it has to proactively invite them in.<\/p>\n

For access to the Google Play catalog of apps, Google will charge stores an annual fee of $5,000 for \u201csecurity and policy reviews,\u201d and it has many additional requirements, including: stores can\u2019t distribute apps outside of the US, have to be open to all eligible third-party developers, have \u201cclear, non-discriminatory\u201d trust and safety policies, and no more than 1 percent of \u201cinstall attempts\u201d can be malware.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Epic Games and Google have just jointly withdrawn their attempt to retroactively settle the lawsuit that\u2019s changing how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1089996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3159],"tags":[2062,867,547,12,46,326,53,16,15],"class_list":["post-1089995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-apps","tag-google","tag-mobile","tag-news","tag-policy","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116922046645540074","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1089996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1089995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1089995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}