Four stores reaching different audiences under different rules. What sets each apart, and who each one is worth publishing to.
When someone says "I published my app", most people assume Google Play. But the Android market isn't one store, and the difference between them isn't the logo — it's the audience, the commission, the strictness of review, and the services each store forces into the app itself.
Google Play
The most widely distributed store, preinstalled on most Android devices outside China.
- Audience: the largest by a wide margin and the most geographically varied.
- Commission: a percentage of digital purchases, with a reduced rate on the first tier of annual revenue for smaller developers.
- Review: the strictest of the four, with requirements that change every year: target API level, billing library version, the Data Safety form, and ad and permission policies.
- Suits: almost everyone. It's the natural starting point.
- Watch out: falling behind on mandatory updates means you can't ship any new release once the deadline passes.
Huawei AppGallery
The official store on Huawei devices, which don't ship with Google services at all — and that single fact governs everything.
- Audience: strong in China, the Middle East and North Africa, and parts of Europe and Latin America.
- Competition: far less crowded, which means better visibility for a good app in a mid-sized category.
- Technical requirement: Google services must be replaced with HMS equivalents — ads, payments, maps. Uploading a Google-dependent build gets you the "HMS not integrated" rejection.
- Suits: anyone targeting MENA markets, and anyone wanting an extra revenue channel for a reasonable porting effort.
Amazon Appstore
Amazon's store, and the default one on Fire tablets.
- Audience: smaller, but concentrated in North America and Europe, with a meaningful base of family tablets that matters for children's and educational apps.
- Review: usually the calmest of the three.
- Technical requirement: its own payment system (Amazon IAP) and restrictions on which ad networks are allowed.
- Suits: kids' apps, education and utilities, and anyone wanting a less competitive market for a modest porting effort.
Samsung Galaxy Store
Preinstalled on Samsung devices, which make up the largest share of Android hardware in many markets.
- Audience: broad in theory, though many Samsung owners use Google Play out of habit.
- Advantage: low competition, developer promotion programmes, and integration with Samsung's foldables and watches.
- Suits: anyone already on Play who wants an extra channel for a small amount of work.
Quick comparison
| Store | Audience size | Review strictness | Porting effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Play | Largest | High | — |
| AppGallery | Medium | Medium | Large (HMS) |
| Amazon | Small | Low | Medium (IAP) |
| Galaxy Store | Medium | Low | Small |
Is publishing to more than one store worth it?
It depends on where your revenue comes from. If your app is free with ads, each extra store means extra audience for a porting cost paid once, and the maths usually works out.
If it relies on in-app purchases, do the sums first: each store imposes its own payment system, which means separate testing and separate maintenance on every update.
The practical advice: publish to Google Play first, let the app stabilise and prove it has an audience, then expand. Expanding early means maintaining three builds of a product you haven't yet confirmed anyone wants.
Written for the Store of Apps blog. Corrections and feedback: contact@storeofapps.com.