How to download apps on android without daid phone

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, make sure you know what you're doing. Tap Open , and if this is the first APK you've installed, you'll be asked to go to Settings to confirm that you want to install "unknown apps" from this source. In this case, the source is your Android web browser. You'll have to do this only once for your web browser, and you can then tap Install to run the APK and install the app. If you need to access the install-unknown-apps setting again, you can find it by going to Settings then selecting Apps and notifications , the app in question usually your web browser , Advanced , and Install unknown apps.

You can install apps from file-syncing services such as Dropbox, as long as you enable this feature for the relevant app. That's really all there is to it—the process might vary slightly if you're using something other than the stock version of Android 10, which is the latest version at the time of writing.

In Android 11 , the process is changing slightly, so the downloaded app will have to restart once you've given it permission to run. The biggest challenge with sideloading apps on Android is not how to do it, but making sure everything you install is safe: Android apps are given more rein on your device than they are on iOS, so the potential for an untrustworthy app to do damage or steal data is significantly higher—as long as you stick to known portals like APKMirror and known apps that are well established and widely used, you can minimize your risk.

For the more adventurous, rooting your Android phone is an option: This basically means hacking your Android phone to take off all its limits and restrictions, but it's not for the faint of heart.

While it lets you give apps more control over your system— Titanium Backup , an excellent whole-device backup tool, is a good example—it's difficult to do, it's likely to break some of your favorite apps, and it leaves your phone more vulnerable from a security perspective. Unless you have a very good reason, we'd recommend using the APK method rather than rooting to install non—Play Store apps.

Besides, the procedure to root you phone varies among devices and even among carriers sometimes, depending on whether your phone is locked. Swipe left and right with your finger until you find the Play Store icon. Tap it.

Tap the magnifying glass in the bottom right. Suggested apps will pop up below the search box as you type, which you can tap to reach directly. Tapping the three dots on the right side of each entry will allow you to install the app immediately or add the app to a list for future reference.

Tapping the box itself will provide more details for that app, including screenshots, video, a description, and reviews from users like you.

Tap the Install button at the top to start downloading. You will be asked to provide device authorization for installation. Ongoing downloads and installations will show as icons in the notification bar at the top of the screen. Swipe down from the top for a detailed look.

Once the download and installation are complete, you can tap the Open button in the Play Store listing, or tap the icon from the notification tray to open your app. Some of the most popular free apps include Pandora, a music listening service, Skype, a video chat service for free calls with family and friends around the world, and Round Health, a medication reminder app that is simple to use and pleasing to view.

Helpful 6 Not Helpful 4. Related wikiHows How to. How to. About This Article. Written by:. Nicole Levine, MFA. Co-authors: Updated: March 29, Categories: Android Applications. Article Summary X 1. In other languages Italiano: Scaricare un'Applicazione su Android. Bahasa Indonesia: Mengunduh Aplikasi di Android. Nederlands: Apps downloaden op Android. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read , times.

Is this article up to date? The above steps enable your browser to get apps from sources other than Google Play. Android 8 controls the installation permissions through individual apps rather than all of them at once, so you need to allow the browser to perform installations. With older Android versions 7. Instead, you have to trigger an option for downloading files from all available sources.

Using the above steps, you will have access to any APKs you want to install , as long as they are compatible with your device. This option can put your device at risk since it allows all unknown sources to store files rather than on an app-by-app basis.

If your smartphone is not protected enough, it could get infected. However, updates for the app may require the option to be enabled again.