For years, getting a rival app store onto an Android phone meant wrestling with sideloading, a process Google wrapped in warnings and friction. That barrier falls on July 22, when Google Play begins hosting competing app stores directly, letting users install them with the same tap that installs any ordinary app.
The change comes from a courtroom retreat. Epic Games and Google jointly withdrew their motion to modify the permanent injunction that governs the Play Store, according to a filing submitted July 14 to Judge James Donato.
“The Parties respectfully withdraw their Renewed Joint Motion to Modify Permanent Injunction,” the notice reads. Google told the court it “continues to comply with the Court’s Permanent Injunction, and that it is prepared to launch the remedies reflected in paragraphs 11-12 of the Permanent Injunction on July 22, 2026.”
Walk back the timeline and the size of the concession comes into focus. A US District Court ordered these changes in October 2024. The Ninth Circuit upheld them on September 12, 2025.
Google kept fighting anyway, and late last year it looked like the company had found an exit, striking a settlement with Epic that carried an $800 million partnership and let Google avoid carrying rival stores inside Play. Pulling that settlement puts the original order back in charge, and the original order tells Google to open the gates.
Google framed the surrender as strategy. “We’ve agreed with Epic to withdraw our motion to modify the US Court’s injunction rather than prolonging this process which creates uncertainty for the ecosystem,” spokesperson Dan Jackson said.
He added that the move lets Google “focus on executing our recently announced global business model evolution to deliver greater app store choice, lower prices, and more opportunities for developers and users,” and said the company remains “committed to maintaining Android’s industry-leading security and fostering a competitive ecosystem where every app store and developer has the freedom to compete.”
US developers will find their listings, icons, descriptions, screenshots and all, automatically offered to third-party stores starting July 22 unless they opt out. “Google Play’s service fee will continue to apply to apps downloaded in this manner,” the company notes, which tells you where the tollbooth still stands.
The freedom comes fenced. Google is charging third-party stores $5,000 a year for what it calls “security and policy reviews.” The arrangement covers the US only, so shoppers elsewhere stay inside the walled garden for now.
Stores that want in have to be US-based registered organizations, keep “clear, non-discriminatory” trust and safety rules, stay open to every eligible developer, avoid distributing apps outside the country, and hold malware below 1 percent of “install attempts.” Google keeps its hand on the catalog, the fees, and the rulebook even as it lets competitors through the door.
A store-within-a-store model Google resisted for years now sits a week away, and that direction favors anyone who believes one company should not decide what software you can install.
