Apps Ive downloaded before Google Play Store#tts=0

Let's take a simple example like downloading and installing WhatsApp from outside the Play Store. In this case, WhatsApp provides its own direct download page that you can either visit on a desktop and then transfer the file to your phone, or visit on your phone browser requesting the desktop site from your browser settings and then download it directly to your device. Once downloaded, you can check out your Downloads in the app drawer and select the downloaded APK file.

Clicking on that will start the install process, and if required, will ask you to allow the app permissions to continue. If you want to install Fortnite on your Android smartphone, you can follow our guide here. This requires a dedicated file explorer app to access the APK.

You will also need to grant the File Explorer permission to install from unknown sources. Many apps can't be downloaded directly from the company that makes them, however. In this instance, you'll want to check out one of the more trusted app repositories like APKMirror. From there you can download manually vetted apps that use the same digital signatures as the apps on Google Play. If you can't find what you're looking for on the Play Store or APKmirror, there are some alternative app repositories out there.

We've taken a look at the most important ones in this article. However, the recent decision of Epic Games to bypass Google Play and offer Fortnite to players directly through their website, is likely to make other developers follow suit. We think you should expect more apps requiring sideloading in the future.

For the retro gamers among you, sideloading is also the best source of discovering emulators that Nintendo and Sony have purged from Google Play.

Have you tried to install apps from outside Google's Play Store? Let us know how it went in the comments below! I had a comment about my old Gingerbread phone below, but worth adding that more than availability, it's just a lot easier to search and evaluate sites for APKs on a big screen PC. At the top of the screen, tap "Library.

Here, you have two more options:. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. Then, tap on the three stripes icon in the upper left corner of the main screen.

This list will appear all the applications that you have installed from an email account. You can keep scrolling down until you reach the first app you installed. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. The Overflow Blog. Podcast what if you could invest in your favorite developer?

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