Aptoide sues Google, alleging antitrust chokehold over Android apps

Aptoide has taken Google back to federal court, accusing the search giant of using its grip on Android app distribution and in-app billing to lock out rival app stores and preserve control over how users reach software on their phones.

The Lisbon, Portugal-based company filed the lawsuit Tuesday in San Francisco federal court. It says Google’s rules create an anticompetitive chokehold that makes it far harder for smaller stores to win developers, users and exclusive content, even though Aptoide says it offers lower commissions to developers and lower costs to consumers. The complaint seeks an injunction to stop the challenged conduct and asks for unspecified triple damages.

Aptoide has tried to position itself as a serious alternative, not a niche storefront. Its company materials describe it as the third-largest Android store in the world. One set of pages says it has more than 430 million users and 1 million apps. Another FAQ says it has more than 300 million users worldwide, 7 billion downloads and 1 million apps. The different figures underscore how the company presents its scale across product pages, but they all point to the same claim: Aptoide says it is already large enough to compete if Google’s rules do not tilt the market.

The case goes to the practical question at the center of the Android ecosystem, whether app stores are open marketplaces or heavily gated toll roads. Aptoide says Google steers developers toward Google Play and other services that become must-have products for anyone trying to reach Android users at scale. That matters for developers deciding where to distribute apps, for phone makers choosing which services to preload or promote, and for consumers who may never see the competition hidden behind the home screen.

The lawsuit lands while Google is already under pressure in other antitrust fights. In the Epic Games dispute, Google and Epic reached a settlement in November 2025 after a five-year battle over Android app distribution and billing. Google also announced changes for third-party Android app stores and lower fees as part of the settlement rollout in March 2026. In a separate federal search monopoly case, the Justice Department says the court ordered Google to make certain search index and user-interaction data available to rivals, offer search syndication services, and stop maintaining exclusive contracts tied to Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant and the Gemini app.

Aptoide also has a longer history of challenging Google’s power. It filed a separate complaint with European Union antitrust authorities in 2014. If the new U.S. case survives, it could add another layer of pressure on Google as courts and regulators scrutinize the terms that shape software distribution, billing relationships and competition across Android.