Aptoide became the first rival storefront distributed inside Google Play, and US users can install it without enabling sideloading or clicking past warnings, according to Ryan Whitwam at Ars Technica. The game-focused store gets access to Google’s entire catalog of 1.9M apps and 295k games under Judge James Donato’s remedies, though developers can opt out of being listed. Getting in costs an operator $15k up front, $5k of it credited against app review, and Google can bill more if review runs long. Aptoide is alone on the third-party stores page, which sits four taps deep under Apps and then Categories, and Epic has not shipped its own storefront there despite bringing the case that forced the change. Microsoft has an Xbox mobile store planned and has not launched it either.
