I search apps and games for my S21 phone but not on google play, Is it safe if I download apk files from websites and install them? I'm trying to install camscanner mod apk
Sideload only trusted apps from trusted sites.
Doing stupid things can have bad outcomes
At the very least scan first with online Virustotal before installing.
What are it's permissions? Anything that asks to be set as a system Administrator you better be sure it's Aok...
Apps with questionable permission requirements can be isolated with island app
Thread moved to S21 Questions.
apkmirror.com is a known safe site.
blackhawk gives good advice with scanning the app with Virustotal.
andybones said:
Thread moved to S21 Questions.
apkmirror.com is a known safe site.
blackhawk gives good advice with scanning the app with Virustotal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been exploring apkmirror. Had forgotten about it. Very nice. All the old versions of free WPS Office before it sold out including the one I've been using the last 6 years. The only free stand alone office app for Android that can write .docx files.
So sick of Playstore's endless crap... unlike Playstore it's easy to scan the app before you sideload it and get a detailed appraisal of it with Virustotal.
Related
I went through my Heros settings and found that in "menu>settings>applications" theres a check-box named "unknown sources" which while checked allows install of non-Market applications.
Why is there such a setting? Since Android OS is open-sourced, isn't the whole point that everybody should be able to upload apps to the Marketplace without Google having to accept them first? If it is like that, why wouldn't all apps be on the market place?
The only reason i see for this is so that you would be able to install apps that Google wont allow, but if they don't allow the app, why would they have a setting so you can install it?
Please tell my why there is such a setting.
Thank you /nofowuw
my only guess is that that setting is equivalent to a Release of Liability form. Any damage caused by apps installed from external sources, not on the Market where it can be rated and commented upon (maybe filtered too?) cannot thus be blamed on Google?
nofowuw said:
Why is there such a setting? Since Android OS is open-sourced, isn't the whole point that everybody should be able to upload apps to the Marketplace without Google having to accept them first? If it is like that, why wouldn't all apps be on the market place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The fact that Android is open source has absolutely *nothing* to do with the Market. There are many reasons why a developer might not want to put their apps on the Market - a core consideration might be that they want to sell their apps, but paid apps are not available in their region, so perhaps they want to use a different distribution method.
Similarly, in some regions, Android phones do not ship with the Market app at all, presumably because Google charge a licence to ship their closed source apps.
Regards,
Dve
google does not check the apps in the market. every app comes to the market, but there is the self-controlling mechanism: if several users complain about an app (and rate it bad) it will be taken out of the market. also you wouldn't install an app that has 1 star and several warnings in the comments. this way you can be pretty (not 100%) sure that the app from the market won't harm your phone. last but not least through the market it can be tracked down to the dev who created the app.
now if you download an app or someone sends it to you all that is gone. no user ratings, no comments, no dev. this is why you have to check that box when you want to install apps from other sources...
ohh, ok... umm.
So how do you install these applications? Just put the application-file on the SD and the phone does the rest? Is there any community that host a library of apps to download?
Since i live in a non-full market region and cant buy apps, i guess this can be usefull for me
new to Android here
what App stores are recommended as "safe" by you Android pro's? i've read that virus' can be caught from disreputable App's, and that is good to know for us who are just getting into our 1st Android phone with the Note.
is this the only "Safe" Android App store?
https://market.android.com/apps?utm_source=en-us-ha&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=android+app+store
tx --- art.
ARTAQaf said:
new to Android here
what App stores are recommended as "safe" by you Android pro's? i've read that virus' can be caught from disreputable App's, and that is good to know for us who are just getting into our 1st Android phone with the Note.
is this the only "Safe" Android App store?
https://market.android.com/apps?utm_source=en-us-ha&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=android+app+store
tx --- art.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazon.com also has an android app store. You will have to download the apk to install. All the details are on the website. I like it because it saves all of your apps on your account. When switching phones, once you enter you Amazon user name and password, poof all of your apps can be downloaded. Also Amazon gives you a free paid app every day.
On the Android market only paid apps are saved in your account. When downloading from the android market use the apps at the top of the search results and the ones with lots of user feedback. Those are generally safer.
Hello
My question is:
Is there any way to access google market/play without a smartphone?
Because there are people out there, that do not like to synchronize their mobile phones to google or don't want google to see their behaviour and more on smartphones.
A while ago I read something about a small team that could get access to the market throught the sdk or combined with it.
However, if someone allready did it, I would be thankful to get some more information about it.
You can go to the website.
There is also an unofficial API and a few applications for Java and Win32 to download apks with your market profile.
Web browser, tinfoil hat optional.
I'm using Real Apk Leecher tool for windows but keep in mind that this is against the google rules...
Maybe try play.google.com?
Matheus-007 said:
Maybe try play.google.com?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He wants the apk, at play.google.com you can only login with your gmail account and send the apps to your phone instead of getting the apk's to your pc :/
thanks for the tips!!
any other suggestions?
theres a whole host of other sites you can use, if you type the app name in google
it will probably direct you to the play store first then give you options of other sites to choose from where you can download them . . mainly if the apps are free though
http://download.pandaapp.com/
^^ that is a site i've used a couple of times.
transfer the app onto your and use a file manger like Astro to install.
Hello
I know that I must wear a condom while surfing the net and installing apps to keep safe but is Google.Play the only safe place to visit for Android Apps?
Or are there other good, and safe places to download free and paid for apps?
I only ask as an app I bought from the Android Market, which changed to Google.Play is no longer on the site. However the app can be found in a place called AndroidPit. I can't find any reviews of this site and I don't know if I can trust them with my credit card details.
google play is the safest and cant tell about other "unofficial" alternatives,
but to browse apps appbrain is good but when you want to download something it forwards you to google play.. there is some plugin for appbrain which enables web download but i never tried it cause i m happy with google play
1mobile.com is a decent site, you can download the vast majority of free apps. Doesn't have any paid apps though. If you're in the US, Amazon App Store is probably a reasonable alternative.
the lemming said:
Hello
I know that I must wear a condom while surfing the net and installing apps to keep safe but is Google.Play the only safe place to visit for Android Apps?
Or are there other good, and safe places to download free and paid for apps?
I only ask as an app I bought from the Android Market, which changed to Google.Play is no longer on the site. However the app can be found in a place called AndroidPit. I can't find any reviews of this site and I don't know if I can trust them with my credit card details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not recommend market alternative ,if you want to play safe applications.
Google Play at least when it is discovered malware is deleted (even remotely).
Alternative market of this assurance level do not have it ..
Actually getjar.com is good, its how I get tapatalk free and its a reputable site so should be safe
Dave
( http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAownKXmAQ/bigfatuniverse )
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk
ancilary said:
google play is the safest and cant tell about other "unofficial" alternatives,
but to browse apps appbrain is good but when you want to download something it forwards you to google play.. there is some plugin for appbrain which enables web download but i never tried it cause i m happy with google play
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mmm safest...http://www.ghacks.net/2011/11/13/free-android-anti-virus-apps-are-proved-useless/
app brain fast web install plugin works flawlessly , and i think app brain is a good choice/alt,
sometimes smoother than goo play
Google Play is far and beyond the best and safest place to find apps, including apps up to date.
how to download removed purchased apps
the lemming said:
Hello
I know that I must wear a condom while surfing the net and installing apps to keep safe but is Google.Play the only safe place to visit for Android Apps?
Or are there other good, and safe places to download free and paid for apps?
I only ask as an app I bought from the Android Market, which changed to Google.Play is no longer on the site. However the app can be found in a place called AndroidPit. I can't find any reviews of this site and I don't know if I can trust them with my credit card details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you still have the direct link to your paid app, there is a high chance it is still available in the market, even if the developer and google says other wise!
I had a similar situation for an app called pzizz which was apparently removed from the market due to changes in the company that makes it,
neither the new management nor google told me it still exists,
I managed to download it though by accessing the market from my pc and downloading it.
this could happen only if
you have the original link of the paid app ( you could not find the app by searching or browsing google play, you must have the original link)
you purchased the app before it is removed, if you didnt, the direct link for the app would not work, only if you purchased the app and signed in by the account in which the app was purchased you would be able to see the app
requesting to download the app from a computer, you cant do this directly from your phone and further when it is downloaded it will not be linked to the market
good luck
Why not Aptoide?
the lemming said:
Hello
I know that I must wear a condom while surfing the net and installing apps to keep safe but is Google.Play the only safe place to visit for Android Apps?
Or are there other good, and safe places to download free and paid for apps?
I only ask as an app I bought from the Android Market, which changed to Google.Play is no longer on the site. However the app can be found in a place called AndroidPit. I can't find any reviews of this site and I don't know if I can trust them with my credit card details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw your post and I had to reply. I worked for Aptoide, which is an independent android marketplace and they do a screening to the apps (at least the ones in their "apps" repository) so that they're free of malware. They were thinking of launching paid apps soon, but for now you have a lot of free apps that are safe to download.
Try it, maybe you'll be surprised!
What about slideme?
Sent from my SGH-I777
Hey I am making a list of all available apk file or google play alternatives on my site so far i have managed to collect 23 and still adding just make sure to check it out it may help check gprsgeek.blogspot.com
Just made a apk hacker on for any app
check it on my site http://www.netalien.biz/newapkhackerlaunched:cowboy:
Mobango and androidfreeware could be alternative, plus apps.opera.com
Alternatives to Google Play
Some third party sites that are known to be safe are apkpure, apknite, apkmirror
EDIT-- This post is super old (but still works).
Another method (maybe better for your use case?) is the Aurora store. Please see the COMMENTS SECTION.
How To Download any app on the playstore, Without installing GMS, GAPPS, AMAZON, Or any other App Store
EVOZI:
https://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/
GOOGLE PLAY STORE:
Android Apps on Google Play
Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more. Anytime, anywhere, across your devices.
play.google.com
Simply paste the playstore link to evozi, of the app you want to download!
This is not warez, you Can Not Download Paid apps.
This site just caches and backs up all our favorite apps.
Rarely, if you're looking for something too obscure, it will not be able to locate it.
Have Fun
Google Play Store lets you download and install Android apps on an Android-powered phone or tablet or emulator if GMS Core already are installed thereon.
Sometimes evozi will say something about "you're being rate limited" and it won't work. I think this is bc they are getting too much traffic. I use Evozi in this example, as it is the cleanest (adless) experience, but do bare in mind you can always use other Mirrors~! sites like APKpure.com are mostly safe
any idea how does https://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/ work as am trying to automate some work and i dont want to depend on apk-downloader or any other mirror
@synackers sorry I just now had the time to research what I wanted to share. There's a "store" that has access to the playstore repositories, that is open source, and gives the user the freedom to choose to enable google features or not. This works on windows phones too and I would guess WSA too?
It is called the "aurora store" it's website is here:
auroraoss.com
This is still new to me so I can not explain it personally but the knowledge is available
This article explains a little about it and shows pictures
Maybe they have a github repo somewhere you can obtain the code you need to dl things
Hope it helps!
Hi Jeneh , to be honest am not interested in any open source apk mirroring available in internet
am seeking to understand how auroraoss or evozi actually works behind the screen ... how do they give you apk to be downloadable is also fetched from other mirror or do they have google developer and google offer any api to play store ..etc
more deep technical details is of my interest . i do appreciate your feedback
@synackers The Aurora Store is different from evozi or other sites like evozi, in that it actually accesses the repositories, ie the link to the android app in question.
For instance: to download the app "Termux" a call is made to get the app from com.termux and it goes on to install and build from there, the latest software.
When using evozi or apk mirror, they save actual hard copies of the apps to their servers to share to users, which could be any older version of the app.
Evozi regularly redownloads the more popular apps from the play store and they take requests. However there is No version choice available. The downloaded apks hash signatures will match the playstore app sigs for that app version.
Sites like apk mirror and others tend to keep all the older app versions and provide a choice which version to download. This is my only use case for these as they are more risky and you should vet the sigs on them.
Here is aurora's gitlab https://gitlab.com/AuroraOSS/AuroraStore
This link has all the code to be able to go through and find exactly what you need.
Some info on the code
"Aurora Store was originally based on Sergei Yeriomin's Yalp store. Aurora Store v4.0 is a rewrite of version 3 in Kotlin"
The developer of the store has made a page here on xda that maybe they would be willing to give better insight to a specific question you have in the installation process to provide the technicals.
Outside of Aurora, it may be beneficial to learn about PackageInstaller to be able to manually install and or uninstall apps with code. Or Package Manager, if you open that spoiler and select the "PM" option you can see all the code for using it.
Hi Jenneh ,
much appreciate your response and cooperation |
https://www.codevoila.com/post/77/how-to-install-or-uninstall-an-android-apk-file-programmatically this is definitely valuable and its crystal clear for me on how aurora works.. i had a glance at the code in github .
now my challenge or use case which i want to achieve is as following ;
1. need to take APK directly from play store ( i dont mind if google offer paid API which am not aware or seen )
this should be automated off android physical phone / or emulator
working in other project ^^ and stuck in this point
what i have noticed indeed evozi take package from playstore cause i checked an APK which recently was published and not available in any other mirror site
Aruroa still need mobile phone or emulator to work
Thanks again and appreciate your cooperation
With regards to thread's title "Download Any Apk Off The Playstore Without installing Google, AMAZON, or Any other APP Store" take note that you of course need an app store to get APKs from.
Never make use of Aptoide: it's Large, Decentralized, Dangerous.
Aptoide is one of the most sophisticated app sources. The store works with a distributed network of different store providers and combines them on a unified platform. However, this poses significant security risks.
Truely not what am seeking , any mirror is not an enterprise grade options cause security risk is high so if there is any way to download directly apk from play store without the need for emulator or device would be much appreciated
The app store with least security risks is Google Play Store.
Apps from outside of the Google Play Store are also scan using Google Play protect on the device, it is a security risk to install apps outside of the Play Store but as long as you trust the app developer you should be fine.
well, what is the case if i need to automate a way for MDM solutions
IDK.
Probably MDM isn't not applicable if the managed devices differ in Android version and ARM architecture.