Google ordered to ease third-party app store installs

US District Judge James Donato has ordered Google to make alternative app stores easier to find and install through its Play Store, ruling that the current setup adds unnecessary "anticompetitive friction." Google has one week to implement the changes.

Epic's lawyers demonstrated that a Play Store search for "store for apps" returned no app stores and only physical retailers such as Walmart. They also showed that third-party app stores are buried under a banner instead of appearing in normal search results. Donato called that "not acceptable" and demanded that "every possible variation that's even only 70 percent properly phrased" return relevant results.

The judge also objected to Google replacing the standard "Install" button with a "View" button on Aptoide's listing. The change forces users through an extra layer of menus and discourages downloads, he said. Aptoide is the only third-party app store currently available on the Play Store.

Google agreed to make the changes. The company first announced support for third-party app stores in March 2026 as part of a settlement with Epic reached near the end of 2025. That settlement was a modified version of a remedy Donato devised in 2024 after a 2023 court finding that Google held a monopoly on app distribution.

Play Store distribution of third-party app stores began in the week of August 10, 2026.