If you've used an Android phone in the past seven years, Google may be ordered by a court to pay up as a result of an antitrust lawsuit.

All of this "gift" is due to the Utah et al. v. Google lawsuit, initiated in 2021 between Google and 36 US states (plus Washington, DC) over the way Google operates its Play Store, the primary gateway to Android phone apps. Google was sued for making it difficult for developers to sell their apps elsewhere, making excessive profits for itself in the process.

As part of the newly announced settlement, as explained in a statement released by Google, the company will establish a $630 million settlement fund to be "distributed for the benefit of consumers in accordance with a court approved plan."

In addition to this, Google promised to make "sideloading" (manually downloading and installing apps from outside the Play Store) easier, and also revamped its warning screens to better inform users about the risks of doing this. He also emphasized that Android 14 has been designed to work better with third-party app stores (mainly referring to manufacturer-specific stores such as the Galaxy Store on Samsung phones) and to allow users to pay for apps in a different way than Google's own payment system. He promised to expand User Choice Billing to allow users to pay for apps in a different way than Google's own payment system.

To qualify for the $630 million distribution, users must have an address in one of the US states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands and use that address when making purchases through Google's payment system.

They must also have purchased something through Google Play Billing between August 16, 2016 and September 30, 2023, such as an app purchase, in-app purchase, or subscription to a service. Unless you're sticking exclusively to free apps, if you used your Android phone during this period, you are likely entitled to at least a small amount of money. According to the Washington Post, that number of users could be as high as 102 million.

Unfortunately, we don't know how these payments will be delivered, or when they will actually be delivered, or if we will see an update to the Play Store; we'll have to wait until the initial settlement in September (via Reuters) becomes official and Google's promise is the proper remedy. We'll have to wait and see if the first settlement (via Reuters) in September becomes official and Google's promise is an appropriate remedy. But at least the plaintiffs seem to be hoping in their court filings that up to 70% of their payments will be automatic.

Note that while there are similarities between Google's lawsuit with Epic Games, they are not actually relevant to this decision. Currently, the court is siding with Epic, but Google intends to appeal, so we can expect more legal news about Google and its alleged monopoly in the near future.