Google has a week to stop being the download monopoly it is

Google began offering downloads from third-party app stores in the Play Store earlier this week, but a federal judge says the company isn’t doing enough.

Aptoide Download

After reviewing the process for accessing the first non-Google store, the judge ruled that Google has added unnecessary “anticompetitive friction” and ordered the company to fix the problems.

Judge gives Google one week to fix anticompetitive app store downloads on Google Play

Google began offering third-party app store downloads in the Play Store earlier this week, but US District Judge James…

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Although Epic and Google are smoothing things over through a global partnership agreement, the two sides are still at odds in the antitrust case in the US. Google lost the case in 2023, and the focus since then has been on determining how to apply the remedies to address Google’s anticompetitive behavior.

One of the key elements of the ruling is the requirement that Google include third-party app stores in the Play Store, giving users an easy way to get apps from sources other than Google. Aptoide Games recently became the first app store of its kind.

However, Google worked hard to avoid this outcome, trying to reach an agreement with Epic to keep third-party app stores out. When it was forced to allow Aptoide’s store under the terms of the ruling, Google didn’t exactly put up a welcome sign for third-party app stores. In fact, the judge found at a hearing held Thursday that Google’s implementation was not good enough, according to The Verge.

Although there is a link to the Play Store’s alternative app stores page, it’s buried several levels deep in its confusing menus. Epic’s lawyer, Yonatan Even, showed in court that even searching for “app store” and “aptoide” did not bring up the expected results, as they do with any other search. Will Google have time to make the changes in a week?