Android opens billing, app stores, lowers fees

This is one of the biggest Android platform policy resets in years: Google is not just talking about openness, it is rewriting how app distribution and monetization work under legal and market pressure.

• –Developers can now choose more flexible payment flows, including parallel billing and out-of-app purchase paths, which weakens Google Play’s historic control over checkout
• –Android’s new Registered App Stores program makes sideloading safer and smoother for approved third-party stores, turning alternative distribution into a more mainstream path
• –Google is decoupling billing fees from service fees, with a separate 5% billing rate in the EEA, UK, and US for developers who use Play Billing
• –In-app purchase service fees drop to 20% for new installs, recurring subscriptions move to 10%, and participation programs can lower some rates further
• –The rollout is staggered by region through 2027 and explicitly tied to Google’s global dispute resolution with Epic Games, so the practical impact will arrive market by market