Google ordered to simplify access to alternative Android app stores after judge finds ‘anticompetitive friction’

Google just got told its homework isn’t good enough. US District Judge James Donato ruled on August 13 that the tech giant has been adding unnecessary hurdles to the process of discovering and installing third-party app stores through the Play Store, calling the obstacles “anticompetitive friction” and ordering Google to fix them within a week. The ruling lands barely days after Google began allowing alternative app store downloads through its marketplace for the first time. Aptoide, the first non-Google store to gain access, went live in the Play Store in early August. But getting there apparently requires users to navigate extra steps and confusing search results that Judge Donato found deliberately obstructive. The long road from verdict to remedy This latest order is another chapter in a saga that started with a jury verdict in late 2023. That’s when a jury found Google had maintained an illegal monopoly over Android app distribution through manipulative agreements with device manufacturers and carriers. In October 2024, Judge Donato issued an injunction requiring Google to host rival app stores within the Play Store and provide those competitors access to its full app catalog....