[Q] Google Play Store APK safe? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I uninstalled market updates to fix a problem and was stuck with the old old android market for a couple days until I downloaded the Google Play Store APK from the link on this page and now I'm worried that I just installed some APK I know nothing about; trusting it just because I noticed the download was hosted on dl.xda-developers.com .
Here's the link for the actual file I downloaded:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=938038&d=1331242238
It now occurs to me that maybe I'm actually really stupid.
Can anyone confirm my stupidity or reassure me that it wasn't a boneheaded move?

Scanned it and tried. Works fine, no evil viruses. xD Don't be worrying.

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[Q] Download free Apps from Google Play without Market

Yep, you've read that right: I'm looking for a way to download some FREE apps from google play without having the market installed. To make a long story short: I don't like the market to know what my phone runs. So is there any software I could download there free app "My Callya" with? Have looked everywhere on the interwebs, but can't find it. I'd be more than happy about a download link to it though.
Why not use titanium backup, and just remove the market links after downloading it.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using XDA
It's not about the links on my phone, but some issue I generally have about privacy when hearing the word "Google". Therefore, how to get the goodies without using the market?
If you're not going to use Google Play, you'll have to use another market. I came across http://androidpit.com which might be useful to you. It also allows you to buy apps with paypal.
But isn't there a way to obtain the free APKs without such software?
Not from Google Play. It requires a unique device ID that you can only obtain by actually registering your device with Google.
And once you've done that you might as well just get it from Play.
Fair. Any other recommendable place where the device ID is not required?
No matter what you're using, you'll have to have a secondary market of some sort. There's also the Amazon Appstore which you can install from Amazon.com and it doesn't use your device ID, just your Amazon account. Really, you just have to choose a place you trust since you seem to be really concerned with privacy and who stores data about what apps you have.
You can try Amazon, but you won't find all of the apps that are available in the Play Store. You can always search for the apks online, since people tend to post them for others that cannot access them for whatever reason. If you're interested in purchasing apps, Amazon would be the way to go, or most devs have a way to purchase from their website. Installing the Amazon Appstore will help you with a lot of apps that you'd like to download, plus they feature one paid app for free every day. If you "purchase" it while it's free, it will be tied to your Amazon account so that you can install it on another device as well or reinstall if you decide to uninstall it. Most of the free apps of the day are crap, but every now and then you'll find a good one.
I'll see if I can find the app you're asking for on the Market, download it, and post the apk for you.
Edit: Couldn't find the app on Google Play. I must not be able to access it due to screen resolution or OS version or something. If you know that it's in the Play Store because you've seen it from the website, maybe someone else can access it for you. If not, check the Market website and make sure it's still published and hasn't changed names or something.
Ohhh, and I think I read about an extension for Chrome that allows you to directly download apks from the Play Store website. I don't know if your Google account has to be registered to a phone or not.
kind of late but if anyone else is looking for a solution, this might work as stated above.
it basically turns the google play store links into downloadable .apk links
http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/
To get started, enter the web URL of any app listed on the Google Play store and click the “Generated Download Link” button. The APK download app will fetch the APK file from the Google Play store and will host it on its own servers from where you downlaod the file.
Since the APK files are directly fetched from the Google Play Store, it’s unlikely that the Android App will be infected with any malware. Also, to prevent app piracy, the APK downloader only lets you download free apps and games from the Google Play store, not the paid ones.
SecUpwN said:
But isn't there a way to obtain the free APKs without such software?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the way i follow if i don't get a apk is just Google '<app name> <version>' and download.though a few times i faced spam
dmxoneIuv said:
kind of late but if anyone else is looking for a solution, this might work as stated above.
it basically turns the google play store links into downloadable .apk links
http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Does this thing also load PRO-apps for free?

Google Play store constant crash

I don't know why google play store wants to crash all of the sudden as it worked fine yesterday and I haven't done anything that would upset it.
I've checked if the app "downloads" was disabled which is was not.
I've cleared cache and all that stuff to no avail.
I've deleted my google account on the phone.
I've uninstalled play store, rebooted, downloaded the newest apk and installed it
I thought maybe it was the new 4.4.21 update that broke it but after installing an older 4.3.10 and still no fix I don't think that's the issue.
I've been doing lots and lots of reboots after several of the above mentioned tries.
I'm using a modded ROM and I'm rooted as well if that's important.
I've deleted some stuff in the root folder with X-Plorer as well but that was way before this happened, maybe two weeks ago?
I've also got SD Maid installed and am using it rather frequently, maybe it deleted something that was needed in the root folder?
BTW, in some apps, a pop up appears with something about that it's unable to communicate with android market. I don't recall I ever had that installed?
I'm at a loss here and I'm about to go crazy or something and I really want it to work.
Try installing it as system app and see if it works.

[All Rooted Androids] Google Play won't download or update.

{note}: this thread made assuming you're android is rooted
Hey. My name is Sadcamp. I'm not really acquainted with how everyone here forums and all, but I'll give this my best shot.
Recently, I was working on fixing my Play Store, because of an app that blocked some of Google Service IP's, disabling my ability to access the store. So, using Root Uninstaller, I removed the Play Store app off of my phone, which as many of you know, removes the Play Store from /system/app. Hoping for it to be fixed, I got an APK of the most recent version and installed it on my phone. To my distaste, nope. I investigated further and journeyed to the mystical file called "hosts". I researched and found that the Google IP's were blocked. So, as recommended, I renamed the hosts file and restarted the device, clearing it all up.
Then, about an hour ago when I went to install an app from the Play Store, it stopped working (at the point where you press Ok/Yes to accept permissions and all). So, I whipped out CatLog, which I recommend if you ever have a problem with your phone, and saw that the phone was giving out messages like "Google Play APK file not found" and stuff of the such. After tracing some of my steps back, I figured this was because, as mentioned in the last paragraph, that I removed the Play Store from /system/app. That being said, I whipped out Lucky Patcher, commanded it to move my Play Store app to /system/app, rebooted my phone, and voila. Just as it had been before all of this crazy stuff had happened.
So, All in all, (TL;DR)
If your Play Store app won't download or update anything, and closes upon opening, consult CatLog, or you could just skip to what I did by using Lucky Patcher and moving the Play Store app to /system/app.
Hope this helped for those who have these kinds of problems. Love your faces!

Recognizing Malware

Hello everybody
lately I'm experiencing obtrusive advertising popups, so after searching in my downloaded app list and found nothing, I installed "360 security" and found some apks that are listed as malware.
These apks are actually quite suspicious, so I froze them waiting for an accurate research.
In fact after searching the internet I haven't found nothing so I suspect these apks are malware
Battery control (com.sys.battery.control)
Live wallpaper (com.gl.live.wallpaper)
System Certificate (com.android.system.certificate) [I'm not sure about this one so I haven't frozen it yet]
music provider (com.android.music.helper)
The thing these apks have in common is that they all have the same icon.
I haven't installed anithing outside google Play store, so the causes are two IMO:
1. they have been installed as system apps via an app downloaded via play store
2. browsing the web via firefox
if this is true there's a bad security issue that needs to be fixed.
I use an Xperia L, android 4.2.2 stock rom, rooted
xperiaL said:
Hello everybody
lately I'm experiencing obtrusive advertising popups, so after searching in my downloaded app list and found nothing, I installed "360 security" and found some apks that are listed as malware.
These apks are actually quite suspicious, so I froze them waiting for an accurate research.
In fact after searching the internet I haven't found nothing so I suspect these apks are malware
Battery control (com.sys.battery.control)
Live wallpaper (com.gl.live.wallpaper)
System Certificate (com.android.system.certificate) [I'm not sure about this one so I haven't frozen it yet]
music provider (com.android.music.helper)
The thing these apks have in common is that they all have the same icon.
I haven't installed anithing outside google Play store, so the causes are two IMO:
1. they have been installed as system apps via an app downloaded via play store
2. browsing the web via firefox
if this is true there's a bad security issue that needs to be fixed.
I use an Xperia L, android 4.2.2 stock rom, rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry to break the bad news to you, but i think ur xperia l is affected with the BrainTest Malware. the only way out is to flash a stock/custom rom. i was also affected by this and believe me, this is the only way out
check this link out for more detalis and info
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/recognizing-malware-t3189097
happy to help!!

Google play store downloading app issues

Title says everything. I hope I'm posting this in the right spot. I tried searching for this topic before posting but didn't see anything. I'm having trouble downloading games and apps off Google play store.
The game I'm trying to download is the gi joe war on cobra. I've had it downloaded and working before, but when I tried to update for the game it simply wouldn't download. So I tried removing it entirely from my device and re download it in its entirety again. Now it just gives me errors everytime I try to reinstall, this isn't the only time I had this issue, but its becoming annoying, cause I see it from time to time again on some apps and games, I'm trying to figure out a solution as to why, I was hoping someone out there knew the cause of this issue.
The device I have is a note 10 plus, android version 10 and its all up to date on its security and patch as well as software version. I have already googled this topic in which I'm asking for help with and have followed tutorials as to how to resolve it, but they proving not to be the solution to the root of the issue, such as.
*Restart device.
*Clearing both data and cache of the app store
*Removing the Google account.
*Force stopping the download manager and then resetting device.
*Checking storage for space (i have about 200gb left on board and like 500 sd)
*Cleared Google play services.
*Uninstal and reinstall Google play updates
Any advice or solutions to fixing this would be nice, it seems to be an issue with my device, but I'm not certain on this.

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