Today marked a significant deadline for Google as it was required to disclose its compliance efforts with Judge James Donato’s mandate. This order compels Google to open up Android to third-party app stores, cease the unlawful bundling of its Google Play Billing system with its app store, and allow developers to provide alternative download links for their apps outside the U.S. Play Store.

However, Google is not granting developers complete freedom in this transition. The tech giant has discreetly updated its support pages, establishing a January 28th deadline for developers to enroll in specific “alternative billing” and “external content link” programs. These programs come with their own substantial alternative fees unless Judge Donato decides to pursue the proposed settlement between Epic and Google.

While fees aren’t being collected just yet, Google plans to charge developers $2.85 for each app and $3.65 for each game a user installs within a 24-hour window after clicking an external download link. This fee structure applies when downloads occur outside Google’s app ecosystem.

Moreover, Google will claim a 20 percent share of any in-app purchases and 10 percent of auto-renewing subscriptions. Developers must still submit their apps to Google for review, employ a Google API to monitor them, and report all transactions, including $0 free trials, to participate in these programs.

For those developers interested in offering their own billing solutions, the financial incentive is minimal. They will receive only a 5 percent discount compared to Google’s prevailing fees, which might discourage attempts to adopt alternative billing methods. Google will impose a 25 percent fee on in-app purchases and 10 percent on auto-renewing subscriptions in these cases. Developers must integrate a Google API to track these transactions and report them within 24 hours.

Google has set a cap on some of these fees at 10 percent of a developer’s initial $1 million in earnings, providing some relief for smaller developers. However, this cap is not significantly different from the existing 15 percent cap, effectively offering just a 5 percent reduction.

How will Judge James Donato react? When Apple told Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers it would require a 27 percent fee for external payments in the parallel Epic v. Apple case, she found Apple in contempt of court, and an appeals court backed up that decision just days ago. However, the appeals court did suggest that Apple may be able to collect some fee, writing that:

Apple should be able to charge a commission on linked-out purchases based on the costs that are genuinely and reasonably necessary for its coordination of external links for linked-out purchases, but no more.

Google currently claims that “the fees associated with the external content links program reflect the value provided by Android and Play and support our continued investments across Android and Play.”

But Google also says it won’t collect any fees quite yet, writing:

In the future, Google intends to apply a service fee on successful transactions and downloads completed via external content links. At this time, however, Google is not assessing these fees and is therefore not requiring developers in this program to report these transactions or downloads to Google.

In their joint progress report today, Epic and Google’s lawyers write that while Epic agrees with the January 28th deadline and other requirements, “Epic has indicated that it opposes the service fees that Google announced it may implement in the future and that Epic will challenge these fees if they come into effect.”

Of course, none of this will come to pass if Judge Donato accepts Google and Epic’s proposed settlement instead, which would generally apply worldwide (instead of just in the US) and comes with lower standard transaction fees.

But Google signaled that settlement, too, would come with fees on alternative billing and external app downloads, and Judge Donato seemed skeptical of the settlement in November. He’s ordered an evidentiary hearing on January 22nd before he makes a decision.

Since Google’s support pages seem to be fluid as Epic v. Google continues, we’ve archived copies of their current text below.