If you own an Android phone or Android tablet without access to the Android Market (e.g., Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet, and the like), you’re definitely missing out on a lot. Manufacturers of such devices usually provide their own restricted, limited, and curated repository of Android apps, although the Android Market arguably still has more apps than such restricted markets provide.
However, in most cases, there’s a workaround: sideloading. If you have access to the APK (Android Package) file of an Android app, you can sideload it to your device. Some app developers provide downloadable APKs of their apps. There are also third-party markets that provide downloadable APKs for apps. (Caveat: Use them at your own risk.) Or, you can use a Market-enabled device to install an app from the Android Market, extract the APK of the app through some tech wizardry, and sideload the APK to the non-Market-enabled device.
Apk Extension Chrome
That’s three or so hoops that you need to jump through. But, thanks to APK Downloader, you won’t need to jump through hoops like those.
Nov 04, 2014 About APK Downloader for Chrome. APK Downloader is an free Chrome extension which assembles an APK downloader button on every Android app page on Google Play which lets you Directly download APK files. This the most convenient APK downloader ever to download from official store. How to Configure it. Add APK Downloader to your Chrome.
APK Downloader, to quote the developer, is “a Google Chrome extension that allows you to download Android APK files from Android Market to your PC.” The description pretty much reveals what APK Downloader does.
All you need to do is install the extension to Google Chrome and configure it a little bit. The extension works in Google Chrome version 17x upwards. See the steps below.
Open Google Chrome.
Using Google Chrome, download and install the APK Downloader 1.2 extension.
Close Google Chrome.
Create/modify the Google Chrome shortcut/launcher to disable SSL error warnings. According to the extension’s developer, the extension won’t work if you skip this step. Here’s how to do it:
For Google Chrome on Windows
Find the Google Chrome shortcut on your Desktop.
Right-click on the shortcut.
Select “Properties” from the pop-up menu.
The shortcut’s Properties window will appear.
Select the “Shortcut” tab.
In the target field, replace “chrome.exe” with “chrome.exe –ignore-certificate-errors” (without the quotes).
Close the Properties window.
For Google Chrome on Linux
Open a terminal window.
Copy and paste this command (without the double quotes) into the terminal window and press the Enter key afterwards: “echo -e ‘#!/bin/bashngoogle-chrome –ignore-certificate-errors &’ > run-chrome-ignore-ssl-errors.sh“
Type the following command (without the double quotes) and press the Enter key afterwards: “chmod +x run-chrome-ignore-ssl-errors.sh“
For Google Chrome on OS X, see the developer’s instructions here.
Run Google Chrome with the –ignore-certificate-errors flag:
On Windows, double-click the shortcut that you modified in a previous step.
On Linux, type the following on a terminal window (without the double quotes): “./run-chrome-ignore-ssl-errors.sh” and press the Enter key.
After Google Chrome opens, click the wrench button and select Preferences from the menu. This opens the Preferences tab.
On the left panel of the Preferences tab, click on Extensions to view the list of installed extensions.
Locate APK Downloader 1.2 from the list. Click on the “Options” link to open the Options dialog for the extension.
Fill out the required fields: email, password, and Device ID. To know your Device ID, dial *#*#8255#*#* on your phone. You will see some text displayed on the phone screen. Locate the line beginning with JID–this is your email. Locate the line beginning with Device ID — this is your Android device’s ID (use only the characters after “android-“). Alternatively, you can install the Device ID app and use it to determine your email and Device ID.
Press the Login button after entering the required fields.
On the next screen, you need to set your country and mobile carrier. Click the Save Settings button afterwards.
To download the APK of a free app on the Android Market, just go to the app’s page using Google Chrome, then click the APK Downloader button on the right-most side of the URL bar (right beside the “Bookmark this page” button shaped like a star).
Once you set it up, you can use APK Downloader to fetch the APK file of a free app from the Android Market. Thereafter, you can sideload the APK file to your non-Market-enabled Android phone or Android tablet.
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How many times you have downloaded APK files directly from third party sources rather than Google Play? The official Android app store Google Play lets you install apps to your phone or tablet, whatever the app you want. But the matter is, it doesn’t let you save the APK file of the app you are downloading. It just installs the apps. But in some cases we need to have the installation file (apk file) of our Android apps which help us install apps later offline without going to store. Unfortunately neither of web or application version of Google Play makes it possibility to directly download APKs right from their store.
In a previous post, I have mentioned about a web service called evozi apk downloader which you can use to generate direct download links to APK files by providing links to Google Play of a target app. The downside with this service is, you have to manually copy to app link of play store and then copy it over there to generate the APK package download link which costs you extra time. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a “Download APK” button directly appearing next to every app on Google play on your browser? APK Downloader extension for Chrome by Evozi makes it happen.
About APK Downloader for Chrome
APK Downloader is an free Chrome extension which assembles an APK downloader button on every Android app page on Google Play which lets you Directly download APK files. This the most convenient APK downloader ever to download from official store.
How to Configure it
Add APK Downloader to your Chrome.
Head to Chrome extension manager chrome://extensions/ and click on Options next to APK Downloader.
Fill up your Gmail address, Gmail password (they are not supposed to store your password; it’s for connecting you account only) and GSF ID Key (get GSF Key using Device ID app from your Android Phone).
Hit Sign in.
Now visit to an app on Google Play, and you will find a “Download APK” button appearing below of the app name. Use this button to directly download APK files directly to your desktop using Chrome.
Apk Downloader Google Chrome
Note for two-step authentication: If you have enabled two-step verification on you Gmail account, you need to make an application specific password over account settings page.
Apk Downloader Extension For Chrome
After All, having a Download button on web version of Google Play Store is one of the biggest dreams many Android freaks could dream of. However you cannot download paid apps using it.