Google Play Opens the Door to Third-Party App Stores, Starting Next Week
Get ready, Android users: Google will begin letting people download third-party apps from the Google Play Store next week, Bloomberg reports. This news comes after the five-year antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, the creator of the popular video game Fortnite, concluded on Tuesday.
Owners of Android phones in the US will be able to download third-party apps starting on July 22.
Epic Games sued Google in 2020, claiming that Google's Play Store operated as an unlawful monopoly by restricting easy access to third-party services, such as app stores and non-Google payment methods.
In late 2023, the court ruled in Epic's favor, and US District Judge James Donato issued a sweeping order requiring Google to open the Play Store to rival app stores.
In November 2025, the two companies reached a settlement to modify this order, proposing an alternate solution that was made public in March of...
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