A small but established player in the Android ecosystem has launched fresh litigation against Google, accusing the Mountain View company of monopolizing both app distribution and the billing systems that underpin in-app purchases.
On Tuesday, Aptoide - which is headquartered in Lisbon and presents itself as an "alternative Android app store" - lodged an antitrust suit in federal court in San Francisco. The Portuguese firm alleges Google enforces an "anticompetitive chokehold" that shuts out smaller app store rivals and thereby prevents those rivals from exerting meaningful pressure on Google pricing and policies.
In the filing, Aptoide says it maintains a catalog of about 436,000 apps and recorded more than 200 million annual users by 2024. The company told the court it offers developers lower commission rates and provides lower costs to consumers, but that it has sustained irreparable harm because Google deprives competing stores of exclusive content from top developers and steers developers toward Google Play and other services Google considers "must have."
The lawsuit requests injunctive relief to halt the allegedly anticompetitive conduct and seeks unspecified treble damages under U.S. antitrust law.
Aptoide also noted it previously filed a separate complaint with European Union antitrust authorities in 2014, indicating a long-running regulatory concern over Google's conduct in app distribution.
The new complaint arrives amid other legal pressure on Google. In a separate matter last November, Google agreed to make changes to Android and its app store as part of a settlement in a five-year-old antitrust lawsuit brought by Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite. That underlying case produced a 2023 jury finding that Google had unlawfully stifled competition, and the trial judge ordered broad reforms the following year.
Additionally, a U.S. government case concluded with a judge ruling in August 2024 that Google's internet search business constituted an illegal monopoly. That judge directed Google to share search data with rivals but did not require the company to divest its Android operating system or its Chrome browser. Both Google and the government have appealed that decision.
Google, a unit of Alphabet, did not immediately provide a comment in response to requests about Aptoide's lawsuit.
Background details from the complaint and context:
- Aptoide claims Google uses control over app distribution and billing to disadvantage competing Android app stores.
- The company cites loss of access to exclusive developer content and routing of developers to Google Play as key harms.
- Aptoide seeks injunctive relief and unspecified triple damages in U.S. federal court.