third-party app store Archives

AppWizard

February 23, 2025

Amazon to Shut Down Android App Store, Ending a Decade-Long Experiment

Amazon will close its Amazon Appstore for Android devices on August 20, 2025, after 14 years of operation. The closure includes the discontinuation of Amazon Coins, which are used for in-app purchases. Developers will no longer be able to submit new apps after this date, although existing apps will remain available until then. Amazon plans to focus on its Appstore for its own devices, such as Fire TV and Fire Tablets, where most of its customers engage with the platform. The Appstore was launched in 2011 as a competitor to Google Play but struggled to gain traction outside of Amazon's ecosystem. Additionally, Amazon will discontinue support for the Appstore on Windows 11 on March 5, 2025. Security concerns have also been raised regarding the Appstore, including incidents of malware found within it.

BetaBeacon

December 17, 2024

Epic Games Store to be Pre-installed on Android Telefónica Phones

Epic Games has partnered with Telefónica to pre-install the Epic Games Store on Android devices, giving users direct access to games like Fortnite. Epic plans to expand the partnership in the future to bring more third-party titles to mobile gamers.

AppWizard

October 17, 2024

Android 15 extends ‘app archiving’ to F-Droid third-party app store

Android 15 will extend the 'app archiving' feature to F-Droid, making it the first third-party app store to support this functionality. This change allows users to archive and unarchive apps from F-Droid similarly to apps from the Google Play Store. The integration will enable users to manage their app storage more effectively and restore archived apps easily. This decision by Google to relax restrictions on app archiving is seen as a response to regulatory scrutiny, promoting a more open ecosystem.

AppWizard

October 16, 2024

F-Droid is the first third-party app store to support Android 15’s app archiving feature

F-Droid is the first third-party app store to implement the app archiving feature introduced in Android 15, allowing users to remove installation files while retaining app data. This feature was previously exclusive to the Google Play Store. F-Droid's upcoming version 1.22 will include this functionality, enabling seamless archiving and unarchiving of apps. The feature is compatible with all Android app formats, despite F-Droid primarily distributing apps in APK format. Recent enhancements in Android have included new APIs for app updates and now app archiving, which have been extended to third-party launchers as well.