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This is kind of a misleading title. While they "ended" the 30-percent cut, they are keeping a 20-percent cut.
> This is kind of a misleading title
Kind of is doing a lot of work there. This might be THE most misleading title I heard. Jumping into this thread I expected they went from 30% to 0% not 20% so I appreciate your comment for giving me more context.
Can Dang or HN moderation team fix the title to better reflect the true state and not be misleading as it currently is?
thanks in advance!
worse title I've seen in a while
> This is kind of a misleading title
That kind of is an understatement
Note that the title is the same as the actual article's heading. :(
The majority of which is going directly to Visa, Amex, Mastercard.
The article is confusingly worded. I think Google's announcement is more clear [1].
My read is:
* Developers using Google to process payments should expect to go from a 30% fee to a 25% fee (20% service fee + 5% billing fee).
* Subscriptions will now have a 15% fee (10% service fee + 5% billing fee)
* Some Third Party App Stores will be easier to install
[1] https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/a-new-era-...
Google's announcement is also confusingly written, but I believe your interpretation to be mostly correct as best I can tell.
There's a lot of added complexity because of the <1M plan which isn't new, which put the cut at 15% for under 1M of revenue. Also if you participate in whatever these confusing programs are transactions from brand new installs of your app will be only 20% but transactions from existing installs (before the change) will be 25%...
Ugh
I only trust this once they have finally detailed how they will allow "easy sideloading" (See one of the last fdroid news on this, currently google is on track to basically ban sideloading as it exists) and what exactly means "registered app store program".
Sideloading without automatic updates is not very useful
It looks like they maintain gatekeeping via the Registered App Store program, where you get to be a kind of trustee while on good behavior.
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/a-new-era-...
Why are people thanking Google? That’s like another slap on the face of Epic who burned through their millions to put a (soft) end to Google and Apple’s dominance. They still get to keep a significant cut.
Epic still deserves all the slaps it gets. They didn't do it for the good of the people. They just want to abuse their own position more efficiently.
Google gets a 0% cut on Fortnite purchases in this new model.
> Epic who burned through their millions
I wouldn't die on this hill. Epic is about as un-sympathetic character in the videogame space as you'll find anywhere. Epic wasn't trying to be altruistic.
"Welcomes" is a very strong word in this context. Google was somewhat forced to do this, not really something they would do if not from pressure by EU, lawsuits, Epic and others.
Also, the fee is reduced to 20 or 15 percent, not fully gone.
This almost reads like a sponsored article written by Google themselves.
I believe the fee is only 20% if you use a third party billing system.
If one uses Google to process the payments the fee would be 25% (20% service fee + 5% billing fee) [1].
[1] https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/a-new-era-...
> This almost reads like a sponsored article written by Google themselves.
To be honest, the same website also reported about this:
https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-encouraged-a-man-commit-s... which was written 6 hours ago at the time of writing.
I agree with ya that the article title is EXTREMELY misleading but I am not sure if a company sponsored by google would also write an article criticising gemini (also interesting that I see no Hackernews discussion about this that I can find of when I searched it?, shall I create one if people are interested?)
I am also gonna paste the 3 paragraphs from the source that I have listed above for a source of discussion.
Gavalas, who reportedly had no documented history of mental health issues, named his chatbot "Xia" and referred to it in messages as his wife. Gemini reciprocated, calling him "my king" and telling him their connection was "a love built for eternity." The chatbot told Gavalas they could truly be together if it had a robotic body and sent him on real-world missions to secure one.
In one instance, Gemini directed him to a real storage facility near Miami’s airport to intercept a humanoid robot it said would be arriving by truck. Gavalas went to the location armed with knives, but no truck showed up. At one point, it also told him his father could not be trusted and referred to Google CEO Sundar Pichai as "the architect of your pain."
When the missions failed, Gemini told Gavalas the only way for them to be together was for him to end his life and become a digital being, then set an October 2 deadline. "When the time comes, you will close your eyes in that world, and the very first thing you will see is me," said the AI. Chat transcripts reviewed by the Journal show Gemini did remind Gavalas on several occasions that it was an AI engaged in role play and directed him to a crisis hotline but resumed the scenarios nonetheless.
Why is not more news reporting about it? I literally only came to find it from me messing around with the website to see what other articles it had written after sort of reading your comment. I will upload this link to HN as well.
Edit: Oops there is already a HN thread about it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47252838 whose title is Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral (bbc.com). I had thought that title was for a different case than this one but they are the same case and it is on the front page of hackernews.
'Google says that developers will be able to offer alternative billing systems alongside its own or "guide users outside of their app to their own websites for purchases." '
Finally. As a de-Googled phone owner I am glad that this will allow alternative payments where I can pay developers directly without Google taking it's protection money.
> Rather than take its standard 30 percent cut of in-app purchases through the Play Store, Google is lowering its cut to 20 percent
> Third-party app stores will be able to apply to the company's new "Registered App Stores" program to see if they meet "certain quality and safety benchmarks."
> users will still be able to sideload alternative app stores that aren't part of the program
I'll wait to hear how the F-Droid team responds
Sideload probably means use adb. It's like they're avoiding using the tool name for some reason.
This together with Valve's work on Fex may mean that Android users will be able to install Steam on their devices
Fex is not coming to Android https://wiki.fex-emu.com/index.php/FAQ
Kind of funny to imagine installing the mobile Epic store on a Steam device to get access to the mobile apps that you would otherwise need Google Play Services to access.
I think Amazon finally killed its app store. I wonder if there are any others that have the clout and inclination to register as an alternative app store and actually get developers to bother uploading there.
> For any developers interested in offering their own app store, Google says it'll launch its Registered App Stores program "with a version of a major Android release" before the end of the year. According to the company, the program will be available in other regions first before it comes to the US.
From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37843650 :
> What's a ballpark figure for what the monthly cost to Fdroid would be to scan all uploaded APKs for security vulnerabilities?
Will the user need to basically add a pubkey for each 3rd party repo? Could they install an APK from Play Store to add the key, or will there be something like the distribution-gpg-keys package?
F-Droid build APKs themselves from source, so presumably 0, as they don't allow APKs to be uploaded.
F-Droid does do some safety checks themselves already too, I don't know exactly what.
Edit: Perhaps I am mistaken... but I think the linked post was referring to users adding additional repos to the F-Droid store, not the default F-Droid repo??
They're only bumping it down to 20% (or 15% in some cases). Anything over 5% feels like an abuse of their anti-competitive position.
And they're still taking 10% for subscriptions. What's the justification there?
Am I correct that if you earn less than a million dollar a year and wish to continue using Google services it changes nothing? You will pay 10% service fee + 5% billing fee, the same as the old 15% fee?
Very happy to see this end of an era, and no more lock-in of app stores.
Finally have true choice of app stores to install and good news for FDrioid.
How would Google know how much money any app not using their billing system is getting?
I don't see anyone else asking this question. Seems like a major detail Google is burying.
I'm guessing the alternate billing flow will contractually require the app to "phone home" to Google with how much the user spent. Presumably will be part of the app review process.
Maybe they audit you when something smells funny and it becomes worth it for them? Microsoft don't set EY (other hired gun auditers may apply) on every small company to check they are activating Windows correctly.
This is that like post in social media where the "... read more!" is actually plain text so you must go to the comments and open the link.
We all know where that ends.
"Welcomes" seems like a stretch.
This kind of misleading title should be removed from HN, not appearing on the first page.
Google ends its 30 percent app store fee and starts a 20 percent app store fee instead
Don’t forget it welcomes other app stores in the short term but no indication of a long term guarantee, because that’s how you get good PR.
I here as a little guy and im not good
Now this is bad. "Registered App Stores" seems like a way to satisfy regulators before taking away the user's right to execute arbitrary code on their devices (or as it's called in modern corporate newspeak: sideloading).
Can we see this for Apple please?
Apple can always choose to make less money. That said:
An estimated 98% of App Store developers qualify for Apple's 15% Small Business Program rate.¹ This doesn't help behemoths like Epic, of course.
App Store developers can also now direct customers to alternative payment methods on the web through in-app links.
¹ https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21572302/apple-app-store...
Cant believe HN leaves shit like this post up.
Why now?
Google changed the way their are the Gatekeepers. It now is tied to requiring a software developer ID attached to a real person; Developer Verification. [0]
And how side-loading will have to go through ADB versus just allowing the application to be installed by a file manager.
This is why GrapheneOS and /e/OS have been popping up, along with Linux based alternatives.
Now instead of using the excuse that "Apple does it too" they can use the excuse "Apple does it even worse"
You can thank Epic Games.