Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser is encouraging consumers who have made purchases via the Google Play Store to check their email and get ready for automatic payments related to a significant $700 million antitrust settlement with Google. This payout arises from a multistate lawsuit that accused the tech giant of unlawfully monopolizing the distribution of Android apps and the processing of in-app payments.
Weiser initially revealed the settlement in December 2023, in collaboration with a bipartisan group of 52 other attorneys general. The states claimed that Google employed anticompetitive contracts, made payments to influential app developers, and created technological obstacles to hinder competing app stores while imposing excessive fees on app developers and consumers.
“Google illegally restricted developers and consumers from freely doing business with each other,” Weiser said at the time. “After years of the company flouting a core principle of the free market—that consumers should be able to shop around—this settlement will hold Google accountable under antitrust laws.”
Court Approval Pending but Payments Already in Motion
On November 20, 2025, a federal court granted preliminary approval for the settlement, initiating the notice process for consumer restitution. A final approval hearing is set for April 30, 2026.
As stated by Weiser, consumers who made purchases on the Play Store from August 2016 to September 2023 and were affected by Google’s practices started receiving notifications via email and text on December 2. Most eligible consumers will not need to take any steps to obtain their refund.
After the settlement receives final approval, consumers will be informed about their automatic payments through PayPal or Venmo, using the email address or phone number linked to their Google Play accounts. Those without connected accounts will have the option to link an existing PayPal or Venmo account or to create a new one.
A supplemental claims process will be available for people who:
- Do not want to use PayPal or Venmo,
- No longer have access to the contact information associated with their Google Play account, or
- Believe they should have received a payment but did not.
Consumers may sign up for email alerts about that process on the settlement website.
Those who wish to opt out and pursue their own claims against Google must do so by Feb. 19, 2026. The same deadline applies for filing objections to the settlement.
Settlement Requires Major Google Reforms
Beyond monetary restitution, the settlement forces Google to overhaul its app store practices for several years. Key reforms include:
- Allowing all developers to offer alternative in-app billing systems for at least five years.
- Permitting developers to advertise cheaper prices inside their apps for users who choose non-Google billing.
- Ending exclusive contracts that require the Play Store to be the only preloaded app store on Android devices.
- Allowing installation and automatic updating of third-party app stores for up to seven years.
- Reducing “scare screens” and warnings that appear when users download apps from outside the Play Store.
- Submitting to independent monitoring for at least five years.
Weiser said the reforms will ensure fairer pricing and greater competition in the mobile app marketplace. “With this settlement, we are putting money back in consumers’ pockets and making future app purchases more fairly priced,” he said this week.
Part of Wider Antitrust Scrutiny of Google
The Play Store settlement comes as Google faces multiple antitrust challenges. The states’ lawsuit paralleled litigation by Epic Games, which took its case to trial and last year won a unanimous jury verdict finding Google violated federal antitrust law. Google is also defending a separate suit from 38 states and the U.S. Department of Justice over its search and search-advertising dominance—a case co-led by Weiser.
If the court grants final approval in April, payments from the Play Store settlement will immediately begin reaching millions of consumers nationwide.
