Google Play (US): external links and alternative billing are now ‘allowed’, but the programs still govern the workflow
Google’s Play Console Help page summarises what changed for US users during the Epic injunction period: developers can link out and use non-Play billing, but only via the published programs (payments policy, alternative billing, and external content links).
Original update (source): Google Play Console Help - “An update regarding Google Play’s policies for developers serving users in the US” (Mar 4, 2026)
Summary
This is Google’s living “what changed” page for US users while the Epic injunction is in effect.
The plain-English takeaway:
- Google says it won’t prohibit developers from telling users about pricing/availability outside Play, or from linking to download outside Play.
- Google says it won’t require Google Play Billing, and won’t prohibit alternative in-app payment methods for US users.
But there is an important operational caveat: Google also says that current policies and programs remain in effect, and points developers to three specific guardrails:
- Payments policy
- Alternative billing programs (for eligible developers serving US users)
- External content links program
In other words: the direction of travel is “more paths”, but the implementation still runs through defined programs and compliance rules.
Why this matters
For growth and product teams, this creates a new failure mode:
- your store listing, paywall, and entitlement logic can now lead to multiple purchase routes, and
- support/refunds/inventory reconciliation gets harder if you do not have a single “source of truth” for access.
If your team treats billing as “just legal”, you will eventually discover it as a churn and review problem.
Tiny win
Write a 5-line entitlement checklist and pin it somewhere everyone can see:
- Where can a user purchase (Play billing, web, partner bundles)?
- What is the receipt source for each route?
- How do we verify entitlement (server-side, device-side, both)?
- What does Support do for refunds and access revokes?
- What analytics events define “paid” consistently across routes?
Then sanity-check one onboarding/paywall flow end-to-end on a fresh device.
Read the original: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/15582165?hl=en
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