Earlier today, Epic Games filed a new lawsuit against Google and Samsung for making it more complicated to sideload apps on Android devices. The Fortnite-maker has said that two companies have come together to bring up a tool that will block competition in app distribution on Samsung devices.
Both Google and Samsung have responded to Epic’s lawsuit against them. David Kleidermacher, Google’s head of Android security, has dropped a series of posts on X stating that “Epic’s latest lawsuit is a meritless and dangerous move. Google did not request that Samsung create their Auto Blocker feature.”
“While Android allows sideloading, Google and the security community have warned users for years about the real risks associated with downloading apps directly from the web”, reads Kleidermacher’s 2nd post in the thread.
Kleidermacher has also highlighted that governments from around the world have requested additional solutions “to help further protect users from the fraud, theft, and abuse from sideloaded apps that are causing real harm to people’s lives.
He also added that this is the reason why Google has several security features in place like Google Play Protect to keep the Android ecosystem safe and secure.
Samsung, on the other hand, hasn’t clarified whether they’ve worked with Google to bring Auto Blocker to its Galaxy devices. However, the company has told The Verge that it plans to “vigorously contest Epic Game’s baseless claims.”
What is Auto Blocker and how it is affecting Epic Games
Auto Blocker is Samsung’s new take on preventing app sideloading on Galaxy devices. The feature comes enabled by default and it prevents users from downloading apk files and installing them on the device.
However, the feature can be turned off from the Settings and after that the apps can be sideloaded. But, that requires a couple of steps and there are certain level of warnings and disclaimers involved in the process.
Meanwhile, Epic Games has introduced its own app store on Android globally that requires users to sideload it and it isn’t available on Play Store. Also, the apps in the Epic Store also need to be sideloaded. Auto Blocker feature prevents that from happening unless users are willing to turn it off.
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