---
title: "Google Opens the Play Store to Outside Payment Systems Under Court Order"
description: "Google has begun letting Android app developers in the United States bypass its own checkout and use competing payment processors — a structural change forced by the antitrust court order that grew out of Epic Games' landmark lawsuit."
category: "Tech"
category_url: https://boursel.com/category/tech
author: "Hannah Blackwood"
published: 2026-06-24T18:32:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-24T18:32:00.000Z
canonical: https://boursel.com/article/google-play-store-outside-payments
tags: ["google", "android", "play-store", "antitrust", "epic-games"]
---
# Google Opens the Play Store to Outside Payment Systems Under Court Order

Google has begun letting Android app developers in the United States bypass its own checkout and use competing payment processors — a structural change forced by the antitrust court order that grew out of Epic Games' landmark lawsuit.

Google has begun letting Android app developers offer their own payment systems — or send users to external websites to complete purchases — on the Google Play Store in the United States, ending years of exclusivity for the company's own billing infrastructure.

The change, which [took effect on October 29, 2025](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/15582165?hl=en), was not voluntary. It is the result of a court injunction issued after a federal jury in December 2023 found that Google had illegally monopolized the markets for Android app distribution and in-app billing. The jury sided with Epic Games, maker of *Fortnite*, on all eleven counts.

## What an app-store commission is

App-store operators — Google for Android, Apple for the iPhone — have traditionally charged developers a commission, commonly around 30%, on digital purchases made inside an app: subscriptions, game items, premium features. For large developers those payments run to hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and they have been a long-running flashpoint between platform owners and the software industry.

## What Google is now allowing

Under its [updated policies](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/15582165?hl=en), Google may no longer require developers to use Google Play Billing, may not bar alternative in-app payment methods, and must let developers tell users that other payment options exist — including linking out to external purchase pages. Google has also announced a program to ease "sideloading," the installation of apps from outside the Play Store, for rival stores that meet safety standards.

## What fees remain

Google is not walking away from the revenue. Its new framework splits two charges: a *service fee* that applies regardless of which payment system a developer uses, and a separate *billing fee* of 5% that applies only when a developer uses Google Play Billing. For developers serving the US, UK and European Economic Area, [service fees are set at 20% on standard in-app purchases and 10% on auto-renewing subscriptions](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/16954621?hl=en) for new installs, with reduced rates available through certain programs. Developers who route payments through their own systems skip the 5% billing fee — but still owe the service fee, meaning Google keeps a cut even on transactions it never touches.

## The antitrust backdrop

The case reached its turning point when the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [upheld both the jury verdict and the permanent injunction on July 31, 2025](https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/08/us-ninth-circuit-affirms-antitrust-verdict-against-google-as-epic-games-prevails-again/), rejecting Google's appeal. The injunction, first issued by District Judge James Donato, ordered Google to open the Play Store: to allow downloads from alternative stores, to stop paying device makers to favor its store, and to break the tie between app distribution and its payment system. Google and Epic later reached a [settlement](https://ppc.land/google-and-epic-propose-android-settlement-modifying-antitrust-injunction/), finalized in early 2026, that codified the revised fee structure and extended some changes beyond the US.

## How it compares to Apple — and what it means

Apple is fighting a parallel battle. A separate Epic v. Apple order requires Apple to let developers link to external payment pages, but Apple has not been forced to permit alternative in-app billing systems on iOS, and its situation remains distinct. For Android, the practical effect is a partial dent in Google's lucrative app-store revenue: developers who build their own billing can avoid the 5% surcharge, though Google's service fee on every transaction softens the blow. The rollout is phased — the US, UK and EEA changes are due by mid-2026, with other major markets, including Australia, Korea and Japan, following later in the year.