Judge James Donato ordered Google to make Android rival app stores easier to install after showing that the current flow still adds friction. The ruling pushes changes inside Google Play, where users looking for competing stores now face extra steps before they can get to an install.
Yonatan Even showed the courtroom a live demo of how many steps it takes to reach rival app stores now. Donato then said, "That is not acceptable, that has to be fixed. I want every possible variation that's even only 70 percent properly phrased," and later added, "Make that install, not view," when he addressed the button users must press.
Google Play Search Results
When users search Google Play Store for the term "store for apps," no third-party app stores appear, only physical stores. Donato responded, "That's not good," and asked, "Why doesn’t it say ‘are you looking for music’ when you type in ‘music store’?" The search behavior now matters because it steers Android users toward or away from rival distribution channels before they ever reach an install page.
When users search for "app store" or search directly for Aptoide, Google shows a banner that users have to click through to a dedicated third-party app store page. Donato also said, "You don’t get that when you’re looking at Apple Music," which captured the extra step he saw as unnecessary friction.
Epic Games and Google
Epic Games and Google were back in a San Francisco courtroom one month after they seemingly stopped fighting over the future of Android app distribution. It had been nearly three years since a jury unanimously decided that Google had an illegal monopoly over Android apps, and almost two years since Donato decided the best way of undoing that monopoly would be to crack open Android app distribution.
He had already ordered Google to carry rival Android app stores inside its own Google Play Store and to provide rivals with complete access to Google's full catalog of apps for several years. Epic argued that Google was still making it too difficult to install rival app stores, so the hearing focused on whether the remaining screens and labels were still doing work the court had already rejected.
Google Play Store and
Google's attorney said Epic and Google had already agreed that app stores are a special category of apps with advanced permissions. Donato answered by focusing on the warning and the install path itself, which left Google with a narrower set of changes to make on Android and rival store providers with a clearer path into Google Play.
Google agreed to make the changes, but the hearing did not give a date for when users will see them. The unresolved question is how many total steps Android users still have to complete before a rival app store is installed under the current flow.
