And they try, but Google makes you root your device to install a service level apps to handle that stuff in the background.

Sorry if I'm appearing snarky but that's the whole point of this thread. Google obstructs third-party app stores.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged...

This used to be true, but as the comment you've responded to (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31424242) explicitly explains, since Android 12 you don't need to root your device and install the service level app. There's a new API specifically to allow apps like F-Droid to update apps they've installed, F-Droid just didn't get around to using it yet: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidclient/-/issues/2316

On further reading, that new API seems to only allow updating apps which also support that new API. There might be a good technical reason for that, but it's a barrier to entry that Google doesn't have as a first party.

I think the apps don't have to explicitly support that specific API, they just have to target a modern Android version. Google technically doesn't have that restriction, but nevertheless imposes the same restriction on the Play store.

(Not saying it's appropriate to impose the "devs must update apps for each Android version" requirement this way.)

Well that's very silly of me.