Epic Games has reached a settlement with Samsung over the Auto Blocker feature, according to a recent announcement by Tim Sweeney, the president and majority stakeholder of Epic Games. This marks the resolution of an antitrust lawsuit that Epic filed against Samsung in September 2024.
In a post on X, Sweeney shared that the lawsuit would be dismissed following productive discussions between the two companies, expressing appreciation for Samsung’s willingness to address Epic’s concerns.
The issue stemmed from the Auto Blocker feature, which Samsung introduced as part of the One UI 6.0 update. Initially, the Auto Blocker was an opt-in feature released in October 2023. It aimed to prevent app installations from sources outside the Samsung Galaxy Store and Google Play Store. However, in July 2024, Samsung changed the setting to enable Auto Blocker by default.
Epic Games took issue with this change, arguing that it created a complicated, 21-step process for users to download apps from third-party sources, mimicking the “Unknown Sources” warning system used by Google Play Store. This feature was criticized as the first instance where Samsung imposed significant barriers for users attempting to sideload apps outside of its approved stores.
The controversy surrounding Auto Blocker also ties back to Epic Games’ legal victory over Google in December 2023. In that case, a court ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by maintaining exclusive control over the Play Store. Epic’s win led to the eventual launch of the Epic Games Store on Android, as well as ongoing efforts to challenge the app store monopolies of major tech companies.