Google Play’s ‘choice and openness’ update: billing options, Registered App Stores, and new fee structure

Original post (source): Android Developers Blog - “A new era for choice and openness” (Mar 4, 2026)

• https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/a-new-era-for-choice-and-openness.html

Summary

Google announced three connected changes that app teams should treat as “distribution surface area expansion”:

1. Expanded billing choice: use your own billing alongside Play Billing, or guide users to the web.
2. Registered App Stores: an optional program for third-party Android app stores that meet quality/safety benchmarks, intended to make sideload installs less friction-heavy.
3. A new fee model: Play is splitting out a billing fee from a service fee, with lower rates and a staggered rollout.

This is not just policy news. It changes how many “ways to buy” and “ways to install” you may need to support cleanly, and what you should instrument.

1) Billing choice expands again

Google says developers will be able to:

• use their own billing system inside the app alongside Google Play Billing, or
• direct users outside the app to a website for purchases.

The operational implication: if you already have multiple purchase routes, your entitlement source of truth has to be boringly correct (backend state, receipt checks, refund handling, and support playbooks).

2) Registered App Stores aims to reduce sideload friction (for qualified stores)

Google is introducing a program where app stores that meet specific quality/safety benchmarks can register, and then:

• users who sideload that store get a more streamlined installation flow.

Two important details from the post:

• It’s optional. If a store doesn’t participate, nothing changes.
• It begins outside the US first, with US expansion subject to court approval.

If you distribute via alternative stores today, your conversion rate is partly determined by the platform’s warning screens and flows. This program is basically Google acknowledging that those screens are a meaningful growth lever.

3) New fees: decouple billing fees from service fees

Google outlines a model with:

• Billing fee (when you use Google Play Billing): in the EEA, UK, and US it will be 5%, separate from the service fee.

• Service fees:

  • 20% IAP service fee for new installs (first-time installs after the new fees launch in a region).
  • An Apps Experience Program and revamped Games Level Up program, with even lower rates for developers meeting experience benchmarks.
  • 10% service fee for recurring subscriptions.

Rollout schedule (as stated)

• By June 30: EEA, UK, US
• By September 30: Australia
• By December 31: Korea and Japan
• By September 30, 2027: rest of world

Registered App Stores is planned to launch with a major Android release by the end of the year.

What to do next (tiny wins)

• Write down your “purchase route matrix” (Play Billing, web checkout, other stores). For each route, list: how entitlement is granted, how refunds are handled, and what support checks.
• If you have any off-Play installs, do a fresh device install test and note the exact screens and drop-offs. Those are now conversion surfaces you can’t ignore.