download and install apk android Android 101: How to Install APK on Android (Sideloading Apps) Sideloading or Manually installing APK on your phone/tablet can help you get apps that are not available on the Play Store. The process is quite easy and could be finished with just a few taps. But there are a few things that you must do first. In this post, you will learn what an APK file is and how to manually install Android APK Files . The instructions below can be followed for any Android or tablet running , Android 9 Pie, Android 8.1/8.0 Oreo, Android 7.1/7.0 Nougat, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, or below. What is an APK? Android Package Kit (abbreviated as “ APK “) is the standard file format for mobile apps used in the Android . An APK file to Android is what an executable EXE file is to the Windows OS. It is an installer file that you can open in Android to install applications. When would you need to manually install an APK? The Store is filled with millions of Android apps that offer a variety of features that make our lives easy. And it is surely the safest and most recommended way to get apps. But that doesn’t mean that it is the only place where you can download and install apps on your Android phone. There are certain apps that you may not find on the Play Store due to various reasons. Now in such instances, you may need to manually install the Android APK file of the said app(s). A few of these instances when you’d need to manually install an APK have been listed below: Certain developers may choose not to publish their app on the Play Store at all. A good example of this is the infamous “Fortnite”. Or if you’re into Android , then “Magisk Manager”. A specific app might have been pulled from the Play Store due to developer policy violation. The developer might have discontinued any further development of the app and voluntarily removed it. App developers may target a specific country and choose to restrict their apps based on geographical locations. Some apps may not even show up on the Google Play store if your Android phone’s bootloader is unlocked and it doesn’t pass the Play Protect certification. Netflix is one such app. The latest update of a specific app may have issues/bugs. And in this case, you may need to install the previous more stable version of the app manually. And then there are apps that may allow downloading of other apps (Alternate app stores) from within them. “ App Store” and the open-source Android apps repository “F-Droid” are good examples of such apps. So whatever your reason may be, you can download and manually install Android APK files pretty easily. Now before you head below to the instructions; a word of caution. Download Android APK Files. Warning: Not all apps available outside the Play Store are safe. Make sure that you do not download pirated apps, which may also contain malware. And also, stray away from online websites/resources that might distribute them. Always download APK files from reputable sources (like the ones we have linked below) or those which are directly distributed by the app’s developer. : If you’re looking for the latest version of an app that’s not available on the Google Play Store yet. Or, if you want to install a very specific version of an app. : A complete hub for downloading apps for rooted Android devices. : A huge repository of open-source Android apps. Instructions to Install APK on Android. The process of manually installing APK files on Android is also commonly known as “Sideloading” and it’s quite easy. By default, Android prevents you from installing APK files from third-party unknown sources for the sake of integrity. But if you’re absolutely sure of what you’re installing, then Android does offer a simple option with the settings menu, which when turned on allows the installation of APK files. Once this option is turned on, you can download the APK file of your desired app and use the in-built Package Installer to manually install the Android APK file on your phone. Now we have covered the complete process in the instructions below. Step 1: Allow Installation of APK Files. The first step is to enable ‘Install unknown apps’ on your Android phone running and above, or ‘Unknown Sources’ if your phone is running and below. We have split the instructions into two sub-steps depending on the Android version installed on the phone. Step 1.1: Enable ‘Unknown Sources’ on Android Nougat and Below. Go to the ‘Settings’ menu on your Android phone. Scroll down and select ‘Security’. Find the ‘Unkown sources’ option by scrolling down the screen. Simply turn on the toggle next to ‘Unknown sources’ to allow the installation of unknown apps. Step 1.2: Enable ‘Install unknown apps’ on Android 10, , and Android Oreo. With Android Oreo, Google replaced the ‘Unknown sources’ option and introduced a more granular model of controlling which sources are allowed to install apps from unknown sources. The new option can be enabled as follows: Go to ‘Settings’ on your Android phone. Tap on ‘Apps and notifications’. Tap on ‘Advanced’ to expand the menu and select ‘Special app access’. Choose ‘Install unknown apps’. You will see the list of apps that have the ability to download and install applications. As an example, if you’re going to download and install unknown apps using Chrome, then select ‘Chrome’ and turn ON the toggle next to ‘Allow from this source’. With the option enabled, your phone is now ready are now ready to install Android APK files. Step 2: Manually Install APK on Android. First, download the APK file of the app you want to install. If you have downloaded it to the PC, then connect the phone to the PC using the USB cable. Enable MTP/File Transfer mode on your Android phone. Transfer the downloaded APK file to the root (not inside any folder) of your phone’s internal storage, so that it’s easy to find it later. Now, download a file manager app from the Play Store of your choice and install it. If your phone already has a preinstalled file manager app, then there’s no need to do this. Go to the app drawer and launch the file manager app (e.g. Solid Explorer). Navigate to the phone’s internal storage and find the Android APK file you transferred earlier. Now, tap on the APK file to initiate the installation using Android’s built-in package installer. A prompt will be shown on the phone’s screen to confirm whether you really want to install the app or not. Note: The package installer UI may vary depending on the Android version installed. Finally, press the ‘Install’ button to confirm and install the APK file on your Android phone. The installation could take a few seconds to finish. Once it is, the app should be installed. You can now launch it from the app drawer of your phone. Now before you leave, know that Google Play Store is still the quickest and safest way to install apps on your Android device. It’s Play Protect protection mechanism makes sure that all apps are free from malware even before you install them. So, you should only resort to manual installation if and when necessary. And it would also be a good idea to disable the installation of apps from unknown sources to further prevent any malicious installations. So, this was our guide to sideload/manually install Android APK files. We hope you found it to be helpful. This post is also a part of the Android 101 series where we cover the basics of using and operating Android devices. If you have any questions regarding the APK files or their installation, feel free to let us know through the comments. Download and install apk android. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the . Cloudflare Ray ID: 67d9d39919b9c44c • Your IP : 188.246.226.140 • Performance & security by Cloudflare. Download and install apk android. JavaTpoint offers too many high quality services. Mail us on [email protected], to get more information about given services. Website Designing Website Development Java Development PHP Development WordPress Graphic Designing Logo Digital Marketing On Page and Off Page SEO PPC Content Development Corporate Training Classroom and Online Training Data Entry. Training For College Campus. JavaTpoint offers college campus training on Core Java, Advance Java, .Net, Android, Hadoop, PHP, Web Technology and Python. Please mail your requirement at [email protected] Duration: 1 week to 2 week. Programmatically Downloading and Installing APK [duplicate] I've seen a few answers related to this but can't quite seem to find what I'm looking for. Say I have a self hosted app. Now say I've made some changes to that app and would like to let the user know within the app that there is an update available. I can get the app to successfully download the apk file and begin installing it. After the installation is "finished" the app closes out. When I restart the app none of the changes I've made have been applied. So it appears the installation has failed, but there was no apparent crash. However, when I install the apk that was downloaded from the Downloads manager it installs just fine and the changes I have made are applied. Any ideas? Here is the section of code I use to download and install programmatically: How To Install an APK on Android. William Sattelberg William has been with TechJunkie since 2017, writing about , games, streaming media, and anything else that technology touches in our current age. He also works as a video producer, writing and recording scripts for our video team and editing videos for TechJunkie's YouTube channel. William graduated from SUNY Fredonia in 2016 with a degree in Video Production, and lives in Buffalo, NY. Read more May 16, 2017. One of the freedoms provided by Android over other mobile operating systems like iOS is the ability to install apps from outside of the Play Store. Though this does raise security and piracy concerns on the platform, it also gives several benefits: you don’t have to wait for updates to slowly roll out over the Play Store, you can install apps onto your phone that Google doesn’t want to make available in their own store, and you can use apps that have arbitrary hardware restrictions to specific devices. You can even install third-party app stores, like Amazon’s, onto any phone or tablet of your choice. To install an app outside of the Play Store, you need a file called an “APK,” or Android Package Kit. If you’ve used a Windows PC before, think of a .apk file as Android’s version of a .exe file on your desktop or laptop. For Mac users, they’re the equivalent of a .dmg file. Just like any computer, Android will take the APK file, extract the software, and install the application to be used, just as if it had been downloaded and installed from the Play Store. For added security, Android devices don’t ship with the ability to install apps from outside sources not offered by Google. But if you’ve found an app you’d like to install, or you don’t want to wait for an update to roll out over the Play Store, allowing Android to install APK files is simple and easy. Step One: Enable APK Installation on Android. You won’t need root access or an unlocked bootloader to accomplish this. Turning on Android’s third-party app abilities is as easy as diving into settings, as long as you know where to look. So open your settings menu by either clicking the settings shortcut in your notification tray or opening settings through your app drawer. Once you’re inside settings, you’ll want to scroll all the way down to the bottom of your settings menu and click “Security.” If you can’t find the Security option, use the search functionality inside settings and type in “Security.” It should return you with the security menu. The security menu might seem a bit daunting to begin with. There’s plenty of options in here that may seem a bit confusing to newer Android users. No worries—just scroll down to the “Unknown sources” selection under “Device administration.” You’ll see the switch to enable the setting is currently disabled. When you click on the option, you’ll receive a popup message, alerting that “your [device] and your personal data are more vulnerable to attack by apps from unknown sources.” We’ll address a bit more what that means below, but for now, click OK. The popup will disappear, and you’ll see that the switch has been enabled. At this point, you can return home; you’re done messing around in settings. Step Two: Downloading APKs Online. As promised, let’s address the elephant in the room: third-party APKs can be dangerous and insecure. One of the benefits of downloading apps exclusively from the Play Store is being able to know and trust that the APK has been signed by Google. While the Play Store has been hit with malware attacks in the past, it’s far and away the most secure way of installing apps on Android. Obviously, installing random APKs online isn’t recommend. There are plenty of sites online that promise paid apps for free, and even if some of these sites are legitimate, you don’t want to run the risk. Instead, if you’re looking to install APKs from outside the Play Store, we recommend using sites that are known for being sources of quality APK uploads, like APKMirror and APKPure. These sites host unmodified APKs of free downloads, and display when each app is signed by the manufacturer. APKMirror, in particular, is used often among the XDA and modding crowd to install newer versions of apps before they hit the Play Store. To download an APK, you can either navigate to the source of the APK itself on your device, or you can download the file on your computer and transfer it to your phone or tablet like you would any other file. Some sites, like APKMirror, offer a QR code service you can scan with your phone to automatically navigate your device to the download site. Once you’ve found the download site, click “Download APK” to save the file to your system. You’ll want to make sure the file you downloaded ends in .apk. If you’ve downloaded a .zip or any other file type, it may be dangerous and you’d be best to avoid using that download. If you’ve determined your file is safe (at your own risk), you can tap on the file either in your notification tray or wherever you saved it inside your file browser. Step Three: Installing an APK. Opening the file will display an installation popup, showing what the app will gain access to. Pay attention to this screen. If you’re installing an app that shouldn’t or doesn’t need access to system architecture it’s asking for (like a calculator app asking for access to your contacts or camera), you should cancel the installation; you might have a malware-infested app. Other apps, like Snapchat in my example, will have to ask for dozens of permissions to work properly. If something seems suspicious, you should avoid the installation. Once you’ve determined the APK to be safe based on the permissions required from the app, you can click “Install” to complete the installation. Most apps install in a matter of seconds, though apps that are larger in size may take a bit longer. Once the app is done installing, you’ll see a large notification that the installation process is finished, and you can click “Done.” If you return home, you’ll see the app has appeared in your app drawer. From here, the app will work like any other application, with one exception: you won’t be receiving updates through the Google Play Store for the app you installed. If you need to update an app, you’ll want to find a newer APK version, and install it. It’ll overwrite the current variant of the app with new one. Updates install the same way as normal apps do through this process. As we indicated, there are plenty of reasons to install third-party sourced applications onto your phone or tablet. They can be a great way of testing new apps not yet on the Play Store, or beta versions of existing apps. Some apps are slow to roll out updates to users, and some applications are limited to carrier or hardware variants. Third-party sources are a great way to get around these restrictions, to install an app that traditionally wouldn’t work on the device you’re using. Still, these apps aren’t without their own privacy and security concerns; the important part of installing APKs from online sources are to remember to use common sense. If an app is cracked, modified, or asking for permissions that seem out of the ordinary, avoid installing the app. As long as you stick to safe sources, though, you’ll find that installing APKs is a great fallback if the application you want isn’t in the Play Store yet—or worse, if it’s not available on your device. Installing APKs is one of those features that makes Android the mobile OS choice of so many—the freedom to install the apps you want on your device, unrestricted to the will of manufacturer or carrier restrictions.