Google

Supreme court grants Google two weeks to crack open Android

Google still plans to formally appeal to the Supreme Court by October 27, but that’s five days after the deadline.

by
Ronil Thakkar
October 7, 2025

Image: Unsplash

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It’s déjà vu for Google, and not in a fun, nostalgic way. After losing (again) to Epic Games in court, the tech giant now has just over two weeks to start prying open the walls of its Android empire.

The US Supreme Court has refused to grant Google a last-minute lifeline, denying its request for a partial stay while it appeals. The previous court order stands, and Google’s time is officially ticking.

By October 22, 2025, Google must comply with a laundry list of court orders that sound like every developer’s wish list and Google’s worst nightmare. The company now has to:

Stop forcing developers to use Google Play Billing.
Let developers tell users about other ways to pay — inside the Play Store.
Allow links to download apps from outside Google Play.
Let developers set their own prices.
Quit making backroom deals with phone makers, carriers, or app devs for exclusivity.
And, perhaps most awkwardly, work with Epic Games to build a system that lets rival app stores live inside Google Play.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wasted no time celebrating on social media, calling October 22 the day developers can finally “steer US Google Play users to out-of-app payments without fees, scare screens, and friction.”

Google, on the other hand, is playing it cool, or at least trying to. Spokesperson Dan Jackson told The Verge that the company “will comply with its legal obligations,” but warned that the changes “will jeopardize users’ ability to safely download apps.”

Meaning: “We’re doing this because we have to, not because we want to.”

The company still plans to formally appeal to the Supreme Court by October 27, but that’s five days after the deadline.

Judge James Donato, who issued the injunction, has called both sides back to court on October 30 to explain how they plan to make this all work.