Competing Android app shops are actually again on Google Play within the U.S., and Aptoide is the primary to benefit from the brand new possibility. On Monday, the Portugal-based app distributor introduced its video games retailer again to Google Play after greater than a decade, crediting the loosening of restrictions that had been criticized as anticompetitive.
For the primary time in a few years, U.S. customers will be capable to set up a competitor to Google’s Android app retailer instantly from Google Play itself, a milestone when it comes to opening the app market to extra competitors.
Aptoide’s unbiased app retailer is likely one of the bigger Android app marketplaces exterior of Google Play, providing greater than 40,000 Android purposes to its roughly 25 million month-to-month energetic customers. The U.S. has been Aptoide’s largest market thus far, however till now, the shop needed to be sideloaded on Android units, limiting its attain.
That modified following U.S. District Decide James Donato’s ruling within the Epic Games lawsuit, which, amongst different issues, now requires Google to permit the set up of third-party apps from exterior the Play Retailer. As of June 22, 2026, Google started permitting third-party app shops to entry Google Play’s app catalog by way of the Play Catalog Access Program. This permits rivals to entry Google Play infrastructure, together with its catalog of apps that may be supplied to customers, whereas remaining an unbiased retailer.
Epic Video games first sued Google in 2020, alleging anticompetitive abuses within the Android app ecosystem. A jury trial dominated in Epic’s favor in 2023. Google appealed the ruling, but lost. Earlier this yr, the corporate stated it would drop Play Store commissions and make it simpler for Android customers to put in different app shops.
