Google blinks ahead of Thursday deadline; makes several changes to Android & Play Store billing

By Daisy On Jan 25, 2023

Google has announced several changes to the way it runs its operating system Android and app Store Google Play in India.

The changes announced on Wednesday, will allow OEMs to license individual Google apps for pre-installation on their devices (earlier these apps were pre-installed for free with Android), Indian users will now have the option to choose their default search engine via a choice screen that will soon start to appear when a user sets up a new Android smartphone or tablet in India.

The Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) directions against Google, passed in the orders of October 20 and October 25, 2022, were coming into effect starting Thursday.

Google said that it takes its commitment to comply with local laws and regulations in India seriously. “The Competition Commission of India (CCI)’s recent directives for Android and Play require us to make significant changes for India, and today we’ve informed the CCI of how we will be complying with their directives.”

It added that it will “continue to respectfully appeal certain aspects of the CCI’s decisions” and champion core principles of openness, expanding user choice, providing transparency and maintaining safety and security that have served the interests of the larger ecosystem.

Google is also updating its backend to allow partners to build non-compatible or forked variants of Android. User choice billing will be available to all apps and games starting next month, Google said.

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“Through user choice billing, developers can offer users the option to choose an alternative billing system alongside Google Play’s billing system when purchasing in-app digital content,” the company said in a blog.It added that Android has always supported the installation of apps from a variety of sources, including via sideloading, which involves app downloads directly from a developer’s website.

“We recently made changes to the Android installation flow and auto-updating capability for sideloaded apps and app stores while ensuring users understand the potential security risks,” the company said.

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