Samsung’s Auto Blocker Impact Diminished After Epic’s Sideloading Triumph Over Google
When Samsung released a new security function called Auto Blocker that significantly restricts the sideloading of the apps by default via the Google Play Store or the Galaxy Store amidst the warning issued by Google and Epic Games, the Fortnite maker sued Google and Samsung over sideloading restrictions.
Now, the court’s decision is here, suggesting a comprehensive win of Epic Games over this battle.
A while ago, Epic filed a lawsuit against Samsung and Google over sideloading restrictions of Android apps in the US federal court in California, while after a long wait of around a week, Epic Games has finally received a comprehensive win over the lengthy yet legal battle against Google at the court.
Yesterday (Monday), in the final hearing of this four-year-long running case among Epic Games and Google, judge James ordered Google to open up its Play Store for 3 years. Epic Games demanded six years of relaxation, though. The judge ordered that several third-party app stores, including Epic Games Store, be embedded within the Play Store, while Google must allow another party’s app store to access the entire Play Store catalog.
What’s more is that now Google doesn’t have permission to make developers unwillingly use its billing services, allowing freedom to the developers to choose their billing services on their own, leading users to other payment options, offering external links to install apps from other stores, and fixing their own prices. Also, Google is not allowed to sign in paid partnerships from other Android partners to exclusively use its store.
While Google has to follow the new legal order, Samsung is also involved in this lawsuit; however, the hearing will be made by the same judge. It will significantly focus on Samsung’s new security feature, Auto Blocker, that eventually blocks users from installing apps from several other unauthorized sources.
