Google is preparing to put third-party Android app stores inside Google Play in the United States after Epic Games and Google jointly withdrew their attempt to settle the case that produced the order, according to The Verge.
Google told the court it is ready to start carrying rival app stores on Wednesday, July 22, The Verge reported. That is the immediate practical effect of the companies abandoning their effort to retroactively resolve the litigation on different terms.
The change matters because Google Play has been the default gatekeeper for mainstream Android app distribution in the U.S. Judge James Donato’s order requires Google to give competing app stores placement inside its own store, rather than leaving them to persuade users to sideload software through Android’s more awkward out-of-store installation path.
What the order changes
In October 2024, Judge Donato agreed to remedies that would force Google to carry rival Android app stores within Google Play for several years, according to The Verge. The order also required Google to share its app catalog with those rival stores, though the available report does not provide the full operational details of that requirement.
The mechanism is blunt by platform standards: Google must make room for competitors inside the distribution channel it controls. That does not turn Android into a free-for-all overnight, and it does not say which companies will launch stores first. It does, however, remove a major point of friction for app-store rivals trying to reach Android users through Google’s own storefront.
Epic Games has spent years challenging mobile app store rules, including the fees and distribution limits imposed by Apple and Google. In this Google case, the result is now moving from courtroom theory into product plumbing: Google says it can begin hosting those rival stores next week.
What is still unknown
The Verge reported that Epic and Google jointly withdrew the settlement attempt. The available details do not say why the companies backed away, which rival app stores will appear first, or what conditions Google will impose as it complies with the order.
Microsoft is an obvious company to watch because it has been linked to interest in an Xbox mobile store on Android, but no launch is confirmed in the reported court update. For now, the confirmed fact is narrower and more consequential: Google told the court it is ready to carry third-party app stores in Google Play beginning July 22.
That leaves developers and store operators waiting for the implementation, not another round of promises. The court order changes where Android users may find competing stores, and Google now says the switch can begin.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
