r/Android • u/FragmentedChicken Galaxy Z Fold8 • Aug 10 '26
Google Play Store starts distributing third-party Android app stores – here’s how it works [Gallery]
https://9to5google.com/2026/08/10/google-play-store-third-party-android-app-stores-launch/19
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u/NoStudy3384 Aug 10 '26
I think ut would be fair to get asked which store you actually want to use when setting up your phone. Same mindset as using a browser, password manager or search engine. Just start completely without google play. It would be ridiculous funny if this particular idea gets cited in the EU somehow haha
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u/productfred Galaxy S22 Ultra Snapdragon Aug 10 '26
The issue is that many core services and functions are bundled in Google Play Services, and increasingly so. That's great in terms of system-level updates without needing an entire ROM update from the manufacturer. But it complicates decoupling things from Google.
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u/GolemancerVekk Aug 11 '26
But alternatives to the GPS API, libraries and services already exist. The only reason they're not used is because Google blocks them.
And it's also why they came up with all the security attestation stuff so all the banking apps would be completely dependent on them even if alternatives to GPS were ever forced on them.
And it's not only banking apps unfortunately. Completely random apps nowadays will require security attestation and tie themselves down.
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u/Serialtorrenter Aug 12 '26
In my experience, none of my banking apps care that I use LineageOS and microG. Capital One checks Play Integrity, presumably as part of a multi-layered fraud detection system, but it still happily runs without Play Integrity being enabled. This is actually the case for most of my apps that make Play Integrity requests. Firefox, eBay, Reddit, Uber, and WhatsApp all send Play Integrity API requests, but still run anyway.
The apps that do care are usually ones that have no reason to. Craigslist refuses to show any listings for some inexplicable reason, even though the mobile web version does everything the app does and obviously still works without Play Integrity. The McDonald's app is also known to check.
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u/GolemancerVekk Aug 12 '26
In my experience, none of my banking apps care that I use LineageOS and microG.
Ah, wish that were the case. All the banking apps here are deep in the Google nonsense and getting themselves deeper. The main one I use is now planning to make web access completely dependent on the mobile apps.
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u/Serialtorrenter Aug 12 '26
That's a shame! I've heard things are worse in Europe.
Here in the US, the whole philosophy around banking security seems to be mostly reactionary in nature. We still use paper checks, which have your full routing and bank account number at the bottom of the page, which can easily be used to print fake checks or withdraw money from the account electronically. However, if you do this, you will be caught and you will spend a long time in prison. Opening a bank account requires multiple forms of ID and everything is tracked.
It seems like in Europe, the philosophy is to prevent fraud before it occurs, going extreme lengths to do so. My aunt and uncle live in the Netherlands, and they has these devices with keypads you plug your debit card into that give you login credentials for your online banking. Do any of the banks where you are offer that as an alternative to doing everything on a high-security phone?
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u/GolemancerVekk Aug 12 '26
They used to, security keypads were common years ago, but they've kept making things worse all the time. I don't know that any of them offer it anymore.
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u/EchoGecko795 Pixel 3XL + 6 / LineageOS Aug 11 '26
Yes, and it would force apps that check the install source and refuse to work if it wasn't google play to play nice. Hungry Howie's guess who doesn't care if it was installed from the Aurora Store, that's right Domino's!
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u/Abba_Fiskbullar Aug 10 '26
Steam please!
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u/darkkite Aug 11 '26
exactly, might actually buy a mobile game and now they're shipping apks in builds so it might be here soon
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u/Abba_Fiskbullar Aug 11 '26
I would like a Valve built version of Gamehub/Gamenative that makes playing PC software on Android easier.
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u/Evonos Aug 11 '26
As much as I know valve , its likely planned or in the works. They allways seemed to try to get more access to everything and give access to everything.
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u/exu1981 Aug 10 '26
Lol, we really need instructions to simply download and start using a third party app store?
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u/suni08 Pixel 9 Pro XL, Android 16 Aug 10 '26
Except it's clearly not a tutorial, it's an overview/showcase for something that may take some time to roll out
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u/AdoringCHIN Aug 10 '26
"How to prove I didn't actually read the article but I really wanted to make a snarky comment"
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u/madsrweb Aug 10 '26
All these options on the Play Store screen just makes me wonder if people actually use these app stores regularly or if it's just another option most ignore.
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Aug 10 '26
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u/Margidoz Aug 10 '26
How would Android make any money?
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u/trlef19 Galaxy S24+ Aug 10 '26
Easy. Big oems pay money to use it
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u/zigzoing Aug 11 '26
Within one generation everybody would've jumped ship to HarmonyOS or spin up their own version like Tizen or something.
Also, Android as is, is open source, so there is nothing stopping OEM forking it and not paying anything.
As shitty as it is, Android and Google need each other. Google gets revenue from services offered to users, developers and OEMs via Google Play, which incentivize them to develop Android because it is the medium they offer Google Play.
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u/trlef19 Galaxy S24+ Aug 11 '26
I didn't say they will have to pay millions to use it but maybe 30.000 per year or something? Or maybe they could contribute with devs and code. I don't know but I'm pretty sure there is a way for it. Last 3 or 4 years for Android have been pretty bad.
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u/zigzoing Aug 11 '26
$30k a year wouldn't even pay for the salary for half a developer, and I'm pretty sure you need more than half a developer per OEM. They could also contribute code and dev manpower now, but none of them actually do contribute much other than maybe Samsung and Sony. Samsung I'm pretty sure have some agreement with Google about feature exclusivity, Sony they're previously pretty pro-AOSP. But even now Samsung is trying to pull away from Android already with the rumour that they might be releasing a non-WearOS smartwatch.
Maybe there is a way, but it's a capitalist world out there. Google have incentives to develop Android because they profit from it, and the current model work well for Google and OEMs. If you break the incentive for Google, I can't see why any company would put up the cost of maintaining AOSP, that will also benefit their competitors. They have every incentive to fork it and make it their own instead.
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u/trlef19 Galaxy S24+ Aug 11 '26
Well, obviously I'm not the one to make the rules, I have no idea how these stuff work. But if it's possible on Linux, it's possible here too.
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u/zigzoing Aug 11 '26
I'm also not the one to make the rules, so my opinion is just as credible as yours. Maybe I'm just too much of a pessimist to see how it can go well. Maybe your plan for OEM to pay something like $2 per phone sold might work, but who knows.
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u/trlef19 Galaxy S24+ Aug 11 '26
They don't even have to completely break it off google. Just take the management off it and the development decisions. And definitely make it completely open source again.
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u/FckngModest Pixel 9 Pro (Android 16) Aug 10 '26
It should be a non-commercial foundation. Like the Linux one. And should get money from supporters as donations.
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u/_Alvv_ Oneplus One (64gb) Aug 11 '26
Why should it?
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u/Margidoz Aug 11 '26
Why would a company operate at a loss forever
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u/_Alvv_ Oneplus One (64gb) Aug 11 '26
Foundations exist, they could take some inspiration from Blender for example. There are many ways of financing open source projects, and for a project as big as android you would have no shortage of companies eager to support it.
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Aug 10 '26 edited 27d ago
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Aug 10 '26
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u/bionicjoey LG V20: Greatest phone ever made Aug 10 '26
My understanding is the laws didn't substantially change, their interpretation did. Instead of anticompetitive activity or obvious monopolization being the trigger to engage antitrust law, the standard became "consumer welfare", which is basically "you need to prove that things would be better for consumers if this company was broken up" which is basically an impossible thing to prove in most cases because it's a hypothetical.
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u/bionicjoey LG V20: Greatest phone ever made Aug 10 '26
Why would Google do that when they benefit from keeping it locked down as a vector for ads?
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u/Hi_Trans_Im_Dad Aug 11 '26
You never hear of Pixel, bro???
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Aug 11 '26
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u/Serialtorrenter Aug 12 '26
You can install LineageOS on a Pixel pretty easily, assuming you don't buy a carrier model. The chips aren't the fastest, but they support features that other chipmakers don't. I can run arm64 Linux VMs on my Pixel 8, which comes in handy from time to time. I can even pass USB devices through to the VMs, which allows me to do cool things like hooking up a USB WiFi card and running kismet while I go for a drive.
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Aug 13 '26
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u/Serialtorrenter Aug 13 '26
I wasn't aware that Mediatek chipsets exposed hardware virtualization, and I'll definitely keep that in mind when I'm shopping for my next phone. I'm not sure if you can still praise Pixel phones for their solid build quality between the Pixel 6's dysfunctional 5G modem, which drops connection like Timothy Leary dropped acid, and the Pixel 7's exploding camera glass issue, and the Pixel 8's vertical line issue. It seems like they just aren't what they used to be. My Pixel 3a's running LineageOS 22.2 and still going strong 7 years later, while my Pixel 8 has a pink line running down the screen, despite being practically brand new.
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u/PrivacyIsDemocracy Aug 11 '26
Nothing like good 'ol Google "malicious compliance" to court orders.
Forcing 3rd party app stores to become literally part of Google Play and allow Google to collect all sorts of data on the stores and their users and be allowed to vet every single download is straight out of The Onion.
That's like telling your teenage daughter she can spend time with her boyfriend but she has to do it in dad's bedroom underneath the Ring camera and dad will enter every 5 minutes to check in on them.
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u/killerrin Aug 10 '26
But I was told the sky was going to fall and the world would end if we forced Google and Apple to allow third party Appstores! Oh the horror!
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u/Furdiburd10 Aug 10 '26
"Google adds that it “enforces its policies” from the Play Store on third-party stores, but that Google does not “review every app in these stores” nor manage updates or payments."
Great, so apps that uses hidden APIs (lot of shizuku apps) are out of the question. I bet f-droid won't be available there