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US District Judge James Donato has ordered Google to streamline the installation process for competing Android app stores, rebuking the company for inserting unnecessary roadblocks into the user experience. The order lands just as Google is being forced to open its ecosystem under antitrust pressure, a shift highlighted by third-party storefronts like Aptoide Games launching directly on the Play Store.
During a recent compliance hearing in the long-running Epic vs Google antitrust battle, Judge Donato took direct aim at the multi-step hurdles Google created for alternative app stores, declaring, “That is not acceptable,” as reported by The Verge.
Epic’s legal team demonstrated that users are subjected to superfluous prompts and several warning and confirmation screens, including a requirement to tap a “view” button before an “install” option is even presented.
The VergeThe court slammed this as deliberate “anticompetitive friction” intended to scare off everyday consumers. The judge subsequently ordered Google to remove these intermediate barriers and make installing an alternative marketplace as straightforward as installing any other Android application, with changes to be made within a week.
While Android has technically allowed sideloading and third-party stores for over a decade, Google has persistently surrounded the process with ominous security warnings, buried permission toggles, and multi-step dialogs that make sideloading feel hazardous to non-technical users.
This directive builds directly on the remedies stemming from Epic Games’ landmark antitrust victory, in which a jury found that Google held an illegal monopoly over Android app distribution and in-app billing services. While Google continues to argue that these friction points are critical for user security and device safety, the court has made it clear that safety cannot double as a convenient shield to preserve market dominance.
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