Google has to open up the Play Store. On Monday, US District Judge James Donato issued a permanent injunction forcing the company to open its storefront to competitors for three years and make Android apps available in alternate stores.

We’ve already seen a report from Statista, which showed that as of June 2024, the number of Play Store apps available was down a almost a million apps year-on-year, albeit at 1.7 million titles, there remains an expansive attack surface as the constant game of cat and mouse between bad actors and Google’s security team continues.

Epic Games has successfully forced Google to change its Play Store business model following the conclusion of a 2020 antitrust lawsuit. A U.S.