Overview
- On Thursday Judge James Donato found Google had added “anticompetitive friction” and ordered immediate fixes to Play Store search and install flows with a one‑week compliance deadline.
- The judge directed Google to surface third‑party app stores for partial or approximate queries, remove the ‘are you looking for’ banner and long warnings, and replace the extra “View” step with a direct “Install” button.
- Epic Games demonstrated in court that Play Store searches like “store for apps” returned unrelated results such as retail apps, a demo that prompted Donato to demand the store return relevant third‑party listings.
- Aptoide Games already appeared this week as the first third‑party store under Google’s Play Catalog access program, but the court said the current entry path is buried behind extra steps that discourage installs.
- The order follows a 2023 jury finding of an illegal Android monopoly and a 2024 injunction to host rival stores, and the rapid deadline signals active judicial supervision that could speed changes to search ranking, user warnings, and who chooses to publish competing stores.