Since the advent of smart devices, there are millions of apps being developed regularly. Now, there are endless apps available on the web. Whenever you want to download apps for Android mobile, you go to Google play store and install it within seconds. What if Google play store does not contain the app you want. Many times, it might happen that you cannot find a particular android app on play store. However, it doesn’t mean that you have lost all the access to that app.
Sometimes an app is removed from the play store because it violates the company’s terms and conditions. Alternatively, many a time few websites launch their android app only on their official websites. In that case, you need to install apps from a source other than Google Play. It seems to be a bit difficult task, but it is quite easy. You can install any app you want this way.
Step to Install an App from Source Outside the Google Play
You need to follow few steps.
- Change setting of your device
You need to change a few settings of your smart phone or tablet. In android version of 4.0 and above, go to the settings and scroll down to the security option. There select the Unknown sources option. You may select Verify apps option too. It ensures that the apps will be installed only after your permission.
- Download the APK file
After configuring your device, you need to download the APK file of the desired app you want to install. An APK file stands for “Android Application package file”. It is the file format, which is used for distributing and installing the apps. This file can be identified by the extension, which is .apk.
You can download it by using any browser like chrome or Mozilla Firefox on your device. You can also download it on your PC and then transfer the file to your device.
Keep in mind to download the file from trusted sources otherwise you may end up downloading a corrupt file, which may harm your device. Many companies put the .apk file download link on their official websites.
- Install the app
After you have downloaded the file, locate it on your mobile device. Open the file and install it. Select the ‘verify and install’ option. It will prompt again asking to install or cancel. Click on install and that’s it. Your desired android app has been installed on your device.
Steps to Uninstall the App
The procedure is same as you installed the app from Google play store. Go to ‘manage your apps’ option. Select the app and click on uninstall.
The difference between installing android apps from Google play store and from outside source is that when using play store, the app gets installed directly on your device without the downloading of apk file on your device. Whenever you need to install app from outside you first need to download the apk file and then install it. You can locate the apk file on your device. Thus, we see that the play store is not the only source of apps. You can get your desired apps from outside too.
