Rival Android app stores get one-tap installs in Australia from December

Getting apps from a store other than Google Play is about to get a lot less fiddly in Australia. From 1 December, rival app stores that sign up with Google can install and update apps in one tap.

Google updated the details of its Registered App Store program on 27 October. It runs on devices with Android 17 QPR2 or later.

Fewer prompts, automatic updates

Android already lets you install apps from outside Google Play. It just makes you work for it.

Today you have to switch on an install permission in Settings before it can install anything. Then you confirm every install in a pop-up, and approve every update one by one.

A Registered App Store skips most of that. Google says the permission is granted automatically once the store is verified. Installs happen in one tap, without extra confirmation screens. Updates run in the background, with settings you control. The store can also send you notifications about installs and updates.

Registering is optional. A store that doesn’t sign up keeps working exactly as it does now.

Australia is in, the US isn’t listed

Google’s list of supported regions runs to more than 100 countries and territories, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and Japan. The United States isn’t on it, and Google’s pages don’t say why.

What counts is your home country, not where you are. A holiday somewhere unsupported won’t stop one-tap installs or updates. If you move for good and change your account country, the phone adjusts to what’s available in the new country.

Apple is being pushed the same way. Last week the Federal Court ordered Apple to let Australians download iPhone apps from rival stores. Most of those orders start on 1 March 2027.

What a store has to do to qualify

The badge isn’t free or automatic. A store must:

• belong to a verified organisation, not an individual developer
• pay a fixed annual registration fee, which Google lists as $10,000 (it doesn’t state the currency)
• upload its own app for malware scanning, and keep sharing its full catalogue and every app update with Google for malware review
• moderate its catalogue, publish a privacy policy and handle government and legal removal requests
• provide parental controls where the law requires them, and comply with age assurance and minor protection laws
• never install apps without your consent, and tell you about background installs.

Google can charge extra fees if, over 30 days, more than 1% of install attempts or 2% of a store’s apps turn out to be potentially harmful. Stores also need App Defense Alliance security certification, at the higher MASA AL2 level from 1 June 2027.

If you manage work phones

IT administrators can block registered app stores from being installed on managed devices. If your business uses device management, decide whether staff should be able to install them before the first ones go live.

If you delete a registered store, the apps you got from it stay on your phone. They just stop updating automatically. Reinstall the store and it picks those apps up again, unless another store has updated them in the meantime.

Checklist

• Check your Android version. Registered App Store features need Android 17 QPR2 or later, from 1 December 2026.
• Set a policy for work phones. Ask your IT provider whether to block registered app stores in your device management.
• Keep a registered store installed if you rely on its apps. Uninstalling it stops automatic updates for the apps it installed.
• Budget for the fee if you run your own store. The annual registration fee is $10,000, and only verified organisation accounts can apply.