Judge Orders Google to Improve Rival App Store Search on Play Store

A U.S. judge has ordered Google to improve its rival app store search process on the Play Store, ruling that it's too difficult for users to find alternative stores.

The decision follows a court visit between Epic Games and Google, where Judge Donato was shown a demo of how challenging it is to install rival app stores.

In the demo, typing 'store for apps' in the search box yielded no results, instead returning Walmart as an option. Judge Donato stated that this was not good and ordered Google to fix the issue.

The judge also expressed frustration with the 'are you looking for?' banner that appears when searching for rival app storefronts, forcing users to tap on it before being sent to a third-party page.