Aptoide sues Google
Aptoide filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Google of unlawfully monopolising Android app distribution and using Play Store rules to shut out rival stores in the U.S. (reuters.com). Media coverage says the complaint targets Google’s billing and distribution practices as exclusionary, a claim picked up across Reuters, Benzinga and NewsBytes ( ).
Aptoide sued Google on April 14, accusing the company of illegally locking up Android app distribution and in-app billing in the United States. (money.usnews.com) The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco and seeks an injunction against Google’s practices plus unspecified triple damages under United States antitrust law. (money.usnews.com) Aptoide, a Portuguese company focused on mobile games, said Google uses Play Store rules and billing requirements to keep smaller Android app stores from reaching users and developers. (wsau.com) Aptoide said it would have put more pressure on Google’s prices and policies without what it called an “anticompetitive chokehold” on rival stores. Google did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on April 14. (srnnews.com) The case lands after years of scrutiny over how Android apps are distributed and how developers are forced to handle payments inside apps. Those rules determine whether a rival store can get installed easily and whether a developer can avoid Google’s payment system. (law.justia.com) That fight already produced a major loss for Google. In July 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a 2023 jury verdict and a permanent injunction in Epic Games’ antitrust case over Android app distribution and billing. (cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov) Reuters reported that Google agreed in November 2025 to make Android and Play Store changes to settle the five-year Epic case. Aptoide’s complaint now presses a separate rival-store challenge in the same broader market. (money.usnews.com) Aptoide says this dispute is not new. Reuters reported that the company also filed a complaint against Google with European Union antitrust authorities in 2014. (money.usnews.com) Aptoide calls itself the world’s third-largest Android app store, a claim repeated in Reuters’ report on the lawsuit. The new case will test whether courts extend the pressure on Google’s Android business beyond the Epic fight. (srnnews.com)
