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Is Aptoide safe? I tried Android's first alternative app store on Google Play - and it's a mess

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Why This Matters

The introduction of Aptoide as a third-party app store on Google Play marks a significant shift in the Android ecosystem, offering users more choices but also raising concerns about app security and trust. This development highlights ongoing regulatory pressures on Google and the evolving landscape of app distribution, impacting both consumers and developers.

Key Takeaways

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ZDNET's key takeaways

There's a new app store found in the US Google Play Store.

Aptoide Games is a limited version of the Aptoide app.

Aptoide still has to be sideloaded.

This was the inevitable outcome Google dreaded: Thanks to an antitrust case it lost to Epic Games, the company was forced to open the Play Store to certified, third-party app stores. The first of these is Aptoide, a decentralized marketplace for Android apps that's been around for nearly 20 years.

Although the new market is slated to launch internationally, it is currently only available to install from the Google Play Store in the US, as that's the minimum Google must do to comply with the order. Outside of the US, users can side-load the Aptoide app.

Legality aside, what is Aptoide, and should you use it? I decided to test this third-party Android market again (I first tried it years ago) to see how well it worked and if it could be trusted.

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