Google ends its 30 percent app store fee and welcomes third-party app stores
engadget.com

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129 points

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2 hours ago

44 comments

jadar ・ an hour ago

This is kind of a misleading title. While they "ended" the 30-percent cut, they are keeping a 20-percent cut.

  • Imustaskforhelp ・ 4 minutes ago

    > This is kind of a misleading title

    Kind of is doing a lot of work there. This might be THE most misleading title I heard. Jumping into this thread I expected they went from 30% to 0% not 20% so I appreciate your comment for giving me more context.

    Can Dang or HN moderation team fix the title to better reflect the true state and not be misleading as it currently is?

    thanks in advance!

  • upcoming-sesame ・ an hour ago

    worse title I've seen in a while

    • varispeed ・ 23 minutes ago

      Soviet level of journalism...

      “Did you hear? On Red Square they’re giving away cars.”

      “Not quite. First, it’s not on Red Square but on Dzerzhinsky Square. Second, they’re not cars but bicycles. And third, they’re not giving them away, they’re stealing them.”

  • onlyrealcuzzo ・ an hour ago

    The majority of which is going directly to Visa, Amex, Mastercard.

    • Legend2440 ・ 18 minutes ago

      Nah, credit card fees are like 1.5 to 3.5%.

    • john_strinlai ・ 19 minutes ago

      i dont believe any of those companies take anywhere near a 20% cut per transaction

elAhmo ・ 13 minutes ago

"Welcomes" is a very strong word in this context. Google was somewhat forced to do this, not really something they would do if not from pressure by EU, lawsuits, Epic and others.

Also, the fee is reduced to 20 or 15 percent, not fully gone.

This almost reads like a sponsored article written by Google themselves.

bhelkey ・ 7 minutes ago

The article is confusingly worded. I think Google's announcement is more clear [1].

My read is:

* Developers using Google to process payments should expect to go from a 30% fee to a 25% fee (20% service fee + 5% billing fee).

* Subscriptions will now have a 15% fee (10% service fee + 5% billing fee)

* Some Third Party App Stores will be easier to install

[1] https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/a-new-era-...

mqus ・ an hour ago

I only trust this once they have finally detailed how they will allow "easy sideloading" (See one of the last fdroid news on this, currently google is on track to basically ban sideloading as it exists) and what exactly means "registered app store program".

  • herf ・ 9 minutes ago

    Sideloading without automatic updates is not very useful

sheepscreek ・ 2 hours ago

Why are people thanking Google? That’s like another slap on the face of Epic who burned through their millions to put a (soft) end to Google and Apple’s dominance. They still get to keep a significant cut.

  • irishcoffee ・ 5 minutes ago

    > Epic who burned through their millions

    I wouldn't die on this hill. Epic is about as un-sympathetic character in the videogame space as you'll find anywhere. Epic wasn't trying to be altruistic.

  • kgwxd ・ an hour ago

    Epic still deserves all the slaps it gets. They didn't do it for the good of the people. They just want to abuse their own position more efficiently.

    • ericmay ・ 36 minutes ago

      Yep. Spot on. And the reason you know this is true is because the arguments about increasing prices for customers due to App Store fees, which is one of the primary arguments, once removed does not result in price reductions for customers.

      It's just big billion dollar corporations deciding on who keeps what cut.

      • hogwasher ・ 11 minutes ago
        ・ 3 more

        I'm hardly a fan of Epic, but considering inflation and rising supply chain costs, a price that remains flat may be a price that would have otherwise risen.

        They might also direct the money towards funding more exclusives. Epic's funding has enabled some games to be made that wouldn't have been otherwise, or that wouldn't have been as full featured without that up-front cash.

        They sell gambling to children via lootboxes; I'm not saying they're the good guy corp. But removing Apple and Google's monopoly over phone apps and app stores would only be a good thing, in my opinion.

        • ericmay ・ 4 minutes ago

          Sure but it's not just Epic. I've seen other services, ranging from Netflix to Spotify increase subscription prices.

          I don't disagree with your point about inflation, but we also can't really run the counterfactual, and I'm personally not inclined to give the benefit of the doubt here. As an aside we generally have some level of inflation and so while this argument may have been more convincing during a period of rapid inflation, it becomes less convincing over time.

          I think the reality is these services have massive margins and so there was never any intent on the part of Epic at least, to lower prices. It was always to just capture more value for their company. I don't blame them for doing that, I just find the "we're the good guys" approach to be suspicious at best.

          Apple's monopoly (because I have an iPhone) has been of incredible value to me so I prefer that the monopoly continue to exist. As we remove that monopoly I see more consumer harm done than good.

        • irishcoffee ・ 3 minutes ago

          > considering inflation and rising supply chain costs

          I just can't for the life of me figure out where this money goes. People bought the same type of things 10 years ago, and the cost now isn't proportional to the cost 10 years ago.

          Where is the money ending up??

    • zarzavat ・ an hour ago

      Honestly I believe they did it because Tim Sweeney has fuck you money and he got pissed off at Apple.

  • charcircuit ・ an hour ago

    Google gets a 0% cut on Fortnite purchases in this new model.

krunck ・ 2 hours ago

'Google says that developers will be able to offer alternative billing systems alongside its own or "guide users outside of their app to their own websites for purchases." '

Finally. As a de-Googled phone owner I am glad that this will allow alternative payments where I can pay developers directly without Google taking it's protection money.

indy ・ 2 hours ago

This together with Valve's work on Fex may mean that Android users will be able to install Steam on their devices

  • bsimpson ・ 2 hours ago

    Kind of funny to imagine installing the mobile Epic store on a Steam device to get access to the mobile apps that you would otherwise need Google Play Services to access.

    I think Amazon finally killed its app store. I wonder if there are any others that have the clout and inclination to register as an alternative app store and actually get developers to bother uploading there.

pingou ・ an hour ago

Am I correct that if you earn less than a million dollar a year and wish to continue using Google services it changes nothing? You will pay 10% service fee + 5% billing fee, the same as the old 15% fee?

barredo ・ an hour ago

How would Google know how much money any app not using their billing system is getting?

CivBase ・ 8 minutes ago

They're only bumping it down to 20% (or 15% in some cases). Anything over 5% feels like an abuse of their anti-competitive position.

And they're still taking 10% for subscriptions. What's the justification there?

aghuang ・ 2 hours ago

Very happy to see this end of an era, and no more lock-in of app stores.

Finally have true choice of app stores to install and good news for FDrioid.

monooso ・ an hour ago

"Welcomes" seems like a stretch.

01HNNWZ0MV43FF ・ 2 hours ago

> Rather than take its standard 30 percent cut of in-app purchases through the Play Store, Google is lowering its cut to 20 percent

> Third-party app stores will be able to apply to the company's new "Registered App Stores" program to see if they meet "certain quality and safety benchmarks."

> users will still be able to sideload alternative app stores that aren't part of the program

I'll wait to hear how the F-Droid team responds

agluszak ・ an hour ago

Google ends its 30 percent app store fee and starts a 20 percent app store fee instead

  • hsbauauvhabzb ・ an hour ago

    Don’t forget it welcomes other app stores in the short term but no indication of a long term guarantee, because that’s how you get good PR.

westurner ・ 2 hours ago

> For any developers interested in offering their own app store, Google says it'll launch its Registered App Stores program "with a version of a major Android release" before the end of the year. According to the company, the program will be available in other regions first before it comes to the US.

From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37843650 :

> What's a ballpark figure for what the monthly cost to Fdroid would be to scan all uploaded APKs for security vulnerabilities?

Will the user need to basically add a pubkey for each 3rd party repo? Could they install an APK from Play Store to add the key, or will there be something like the distribution-gpg-keys package?

xutopia ・ an hour ago

Can we see this for Apple please?

  • CharlesW ・ 35 minutes ago

    Apple can always choose to make less money. That said:

    An estimated 98% of App Store developers qualify for Apple's 15% Small Business Program rate.¹ This doesn't help stuggling underdogs like Epic, of course.

    App Store developers can now direct customers to alternative payment methods on the web through in-app links.

    ¹ https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21572302/apple-app-store...

givemeethekeys ・ 2 hours ago

Why now?

  • yndoendo ・ 2 hours ago

    Google changed the way their are the Gatekeepers. It now is tied to requiring a software developer ID attached to a real person; Developer Verification. [0]

    And how side-loading will have to go through ADB versus just allowing the application to be installed by a file manager.

    This is why GrapheneOS and /e/OS have been popping up, along with Linux based alternatives.

    [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47251763

  • spogbiper ・ an hour ago

    Now instead of using the excuse that "Apple does it too" they can use the excuse "Apple does it even worse"

  • goeric ・ 2 hours ago

    You can thank Epic Games.