Google Play Store may soon let you update apps installed from third party app stores

Google is reportedly working on a new feature that will make it easy for users to update apps installed from sources other than the Play Store. Here's how it works.

Google Play Store cannot update apps installed from third party app stores. (Express Photo)

Google Play Store, the default app store on most Android devices often gets new features that improve the overall user experience. Not only does the app store offer apps for smartphones and tablets, but you can also download new apps for your Wear OS smartwatches and Android TVs.

Unlike Apple, which has restricted third-party app stores to certain regions, Google allows Android users to install apps from third-party stores without much hassle. However, these sideloaded apps do not show up in the Google Play Store, meaning users often have to manually update them to the latest version.

Users also get an alert which says the app wasn’t downloaded from the Play Store. (Image Source: Android Authority)

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However, this might soon change as a recent APK teardown by Android Authority suggests that Google is working on a new update option for sideloaded apps. As you can see in the screenshot, Google Play Store will show an “Update from Play” button instead of the “Update” button for apps that are downloaded from sources other than the Play Store. One thing to note is that it is still unclear if updating an app that you haven’t downloaded from the Play Store will make all future updates direct to the Play Store.

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With Android 14, Google introduced a new feature that will allow an app store to set the update ownership for apps you have downloaded. While it doesn’t prevent users from installing updates from a different app store, users are presented with a pop-up message which warns them that the app they are updating was downloaded from a different source and that updating it might change the functionality of the app.

In the last few months, Google has been rolling out new features like the option to update apps with a ‘limited amount of mobile data’ and download two apps at once.