Google is opening up Android. In notices to developers and a staged rollout now reaching its first deadlines, the company is doing what a federal court ordered after it lost an antitrust case to Epic Games: letting apps on its platform use payment systems other than Google's own, point users to cheaper deals off-platform, and — newly — be distributed through competing app stores.
What is changing now
The most immediate shift is about money. The provisions that let developers tell users about cheaper prices elsewhere and route purchases through alternative billing systems went live in late 2025, and the new fee terms take broad effect this month: by June 30, 2026, Google's app-store service fees in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area are set at 20 percent or less, depending on which billing path a developer chooses.
A second, newer change concerns distribution. Google has notified developers that, unless they opt out by a stated deadline, their app listings will be made available to third-party Android app stores in the United States — a step toward the rival marketplaces the court demanded. Other regions follow on a staggered timetable running into 2027.
A tiered fee, not a free pass
The settlement replaces Google's long-standing cut of up to 30 percent with a tiered structure. Developers face a standard service fee of around 20 percent on in-app purchases, with a lower rate of roughly 15 percent for those enrolled in certain Google programs and about 10 percent on subscriptions. Developers who use an outside payment processor still pay Google a smaller fee for the listing and services it provides. (Exact percentages shifted during negotiations and vary by program; developers are advised to check Google's published terms.)
Critics note the catch: even when a sale is processed entirely through a third party, Google still collects a commission. Supporters of the change counter that a meaningfully lower, tiered fee — and the option to bypass Google Play Billing at all — is a substantial loosening of a system that critics had long called a closed loop.
How it got here
The changes trace directly to Epic Games v. Google. Epic, the maker of Fortnite, sued in 2020 after Google removed the game for using its own payment system. In December 2023, a federal jury found that Google had illegally monopolized Android app distribution and in-app billing, as documented in the case record. A district judge issued a permanent injunction in 2024; Google appealed, the Ninth Circuit upheld the injunction in 2025, and the Supreme Court declined to step in.
With its options exhausted, Google reached a settlement with Epic that a court approved on March 4, 2026, converting a US-only injunction into a worldwide commitment running for several years, WUNC reported. "This really brings Android up to the status of a truly open platform," Epic's chief executive, Tim Sweeney, said. Fortnite returned to the Play Store soon after. The current rollout is that agreement becoming operational.
The contrast with Apple
The outcome stands in sharp contrast to Apple. Epic's parallel suit against Apple ended in 2021 with a judge ruling the App Store was not an illegal monopoly, though Apple was later required to permit links to outside payment options. Apple has otherwise defended its single-storefront model and resisted opening iOS to rival app stores except where regulators, such as the European Union under its Digital Markets Act, have forced its hand. For now, Android and iOS are moving on divergent tracks — and Google's rollout marks the clearest crack yet in the app-store model that has governed mobile commerce since the smartphone era began.
