Google has said it will pay $630 million to its United States consumers as a settlement for the dispute over Play Store’s app distribution.
In addition, the company will also pay $70 million into a fund that the states will use, bringing the total settlement to $700 million.
In September, the company reached a tentative settlement in a class action lawsuit filed by U.S. states and consumers originally filed in 2021. The complaint highlighted Google’s monopoly over app distribution on Android through the Play Store.
In November 2022, Google started a pilot of its user choice billing program in the U.S., which allowed developers to use alternative payment methods for in-app purchases.
Now, the company said it will expand the program in the country as part of the settlement. Google said that developers will be able to show different costs of a purchase in the app based on the billing method chosen by the customer.
The settlement
In a public notice released on Tuesday by Google’s VP, of Government Affairs & Public Policy, Wilson White, the company said:
- “This settlement builds on Android’s choice and flexibility, maintains strong security protections, and retains Google’s ability to compete with other OS makers and invest in the Android ecosystem for users and developers.
- “We’re pleased to resolve our case with the states and move forward on a settlement that includes: Growing our commitment to app store choice: We have always allowed alternative app stores to be preloaded onto Android devices and for users to download alternative app stores directly. Most Android devices ship with two or more app stores preloaded.
- “The settlement with the attorneys general makes clear that OEMs can continue to provide users with options out of the box to use Play or another app store. We recently implemented features in Android 14 that will make third-party app stores work even better for users and let third-party app stores update apps more easily.
- “Google will pay $630 million into a settlement fund to be distributed for the benefit of consumers according to a Court-approved plan and $70 million into a fund that will be used by the states.”
Google added that unlike on iOS, Android users have the option to sideload apps, meaning they can download directly from a developer’s website without going through an app store like Google Play.
- “While we maintain it is critical to our safety efforts to inform users that sideloading on mobile could come with unique risks, as part of our settlement we will be further simplifying the sideloading process and updating the language that informs users about these potential risks of downloading apps directly from the web for the first time,” it added.