Aptoide, an alternative app store, has taken legal action against Google, claiming that it exerts unfair control over third-party app stores, creating a monopoly-like situation.
According to a Reuters report, the lawsuit was recently filed in a San Francisco federal court. Aptoide, headquartered in Lisbon, is seeking to stop what it sees as anticompetitive behavior and is asking for unspecified damages.
In 2014, Aptoide had already lodged a complaint against Google with the European Union’s antitrust regulators.
After launching its beta version in June 2024 and attracting a waitlist of 20,000 users, Aptoide officially introduced its service on iOS in February 2025. The app store offers an alternative in-app purchase system for iOS and collaborates with Apple to provide IAP software development kits.
Recently, Google settled a dispute with Epic Games, another company that had accused Google of anticompetitive practices.
Google has made changes to its Play Store ecosystem, including reducing commission rates on in-app purchases to 20%. Additionally, it announced plans to introduce a program supporting developers interested in sideloading qualified third-party app stores.
The president of Google’s Android system, Sameer Samat, expressed optimism about these changes, stating that they will lead to a stronger Android ecosystem with more successful developers and higher-quality apps and games available on a variety of devices.
Samat added, “We are excited to continue collaborating with the developer community to create the next generation of digital experiences.”