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Aptoide becomes the first rival app store to return to Google Play in the US
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TechCrunch
In BriefCompeting Android app stores are now back on Google Play in the U.S., and Aptoide is the first to take advantage of the new option.
On Monday, the Portugal-based app distributor brought its games store back to Google Play after more than a decade, crediting the loosening of restrictions that had been criticized as anticompetitive.
Aptoide’s independent app store is one of the larger Android app marketplaces outside of Google Play, offering more than 40,000 Android applications to its roughly 25 million monthly active users.
As of June 22, 2026, Google began allowing third-party app stores to access Google Play’s app catalog through the Play Catalog Access Program.
Earlier this year, the comapny said it would drop Play Store commissions and make it easier for Android users to install alternative app stores.