

Assuming it’s in the Downloads folder, navigate to that folder (using your Android device, not your computer) and tap the APK file. Once you’ve done that, the next step is to copy the APK file to your device from your computer. If you don’t do this, Android won’t let you install the APK. To install an APK file on a standard Android tablet or phone using a process known as “sideloading”, you need to change your security settings: in your device’s Security screen, you’ll need to enable Unknown Sources. How to install an app from an APK file on a normal Android device Installing APK files is pretty straightforward. As a rule of thumb, Dodgy Dave’s Den of Totally Illegal Appz might not be the best place to get your APKs from. Be very careful with APK files and never install a package from a site you don’t trust.

One particularly nasty bit of malware, Fakeinstaller, has a habit of sending premium-rate SMS messages without your permission or knowledge, so it can cause financial chaos as well as messing up your machine. If the apps you want are in the Play Store, the Chrome APK Downloader Extension can grab the APKs from the app’s Play Store page.Ī word of warning: one of the biggest sources of malware on Android is in APK files, especially from third-party app stores. One of the best sources of APK files such as Chrome is APKMirrror, which is particularly good for big-name apps such as Chrome. So if you want Google’s browser on your Amazon device it’s APK all the way.ĪPKMirror is a good - and safe - source of APK files. Amazon isn’t interested in letting you have apps like Chrome - it wants you to use Amazon’s own web browser, Silk, instead. Or most likely, you have a device that doesn’t have the Google Play Store at all, such as a Kindle Fire. You might want to install an app that Google has decided to boot from the Play Store for reasons of taste and decency.

You might live in a country where there isn’t an official Play Store download for the app due to licensing reasons, or your device might not be supported - so for example you might have an older Android device that hasn’t been given an official Android update, but you’ve rooted it and want the latest software for it. Why would I want to download an APK file? You can manually install Google Chrome for Android with an APK file.

An APK file is an Android Installation Package, and it’s the file format that Google uses to deliver apps to Android devices and to certain non-Android devices, such as recent Blackberry devices.
