58
Disable your screen dimming app. :)
Some screen dimming apps work by overlaying the whole screen with a translucent window, and letting touch events pass through to the activity below, but for security reasons, you can't interact with system dialogs (such as the package installer) through another activity.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but it could be the ...
43
An Android APK usually contains these things.
assets/
lib/
META-INF/
res/
AndroidManifest.xml
classes.dex
Upon installation, the APK file is copied to /data/app, and classes.dex is extracted and "optimized" by running dex2oat on it (on Android 5+ lib/ is also extracted). Result of the optimization is stored in /data/dalvik-cache/ so an app needs to be ...
40
Apkmirror.com is run by the same people behind AndroidPolice.com, one of the biggest Android news websites. All uploads are manually vetted and approved, and only free apps are allowed so you won't find any 'cracked' apks or 'warez'.
As you already have the Play Store installed, only an apk signed with the same key as the currently installed version will be ...
33
There is no easy way to download an APK file. However, redphoenix89 has found a way to download the APK with a Chrome extension. bexton did some cleanups and the result including a guide is available:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1809458
The guide mentions that you need to disable SSL warnings, but I could download APKs even without ...
32
Save as app name.apk and right click on that file and open with HD-apk handler.exe which is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\BlueStacks.
21
That's done easiest using adb (see the ADB tag-wiki for details on what ADB is and how to get/install it on your machine). As you don't state the OS you're using on your desktop, I write how it could be done on Linux (which I work with); should be easily adaptable to other platforms:
put all your downloaded .apk files into a single folder
connect your ...
17
One (rather crude) way to see what architecture an APK's native libraries are built for is to unzip it (it's only a zip file) and take a look at the libs folder - if the application contains any native libraries, they will be split into the following subfolders inside (with the compiled libraries inside these):
armeabi: compiled code for the older ARMv5 ...
15
Even if ProGuard was used you still can get some interesting insights. Here is a StackOverflow question with a detailed explanation: Android: Getting source code from an APK file. YouTube video with a detailed guide. And a blog entry about that: How to retrieve source code from an Android APK file.
15
There is nothing dangerous about it, and this is done occasionally when the store isn't accessible.
In response to your second question, apks are not unique - and can be easily transferred to another device, or the internet. This is the base of android app piracy.
When you upload the APK to Google Play, GPlay does nothing to it. It is up to the developer ...
15
As Liam already pointed out, there's no danger involved for the developer. If one wants to grab the .apk for distribution, that's easily possible using apps like AppMonster, which can back up the .apk file to SD card. No extra protection from Google's side -- except users might feel more safe installing it from a "trusted source" (and they are right about ...
14
The answer is: It depends. It's the way supposed to work:
adb backup -f myapp.ab -apk com.myapp # backup on one device
adb restore myapp.ab # restore to the same or any other device
But an app can "opt out of Backup" declaring ALLOW_BACKUP:FALSE (see: adb backup not working for certain app), in which case (without root powers) all you get ...
13
I just copied my APK file into the Apps folder, which is created by default in the Libraries folder at the time of BlueStacks installation. Then I just double clicked on the APK file to install it to the App Player. Now I can see the application icon on the home screen of the App Player and I am able to run it from there.
11
If you get lucky and your .apk file wasn't protected by Proguard or analog, you can use APK tool. It is a tool for reverse engineering 3rd party, closed, binary Android apps.
10
Android does not natively back up applications so you can't "undo" an app update. Best thing I'd say you can do is something like this howto. It backs up your apks and their settings. It uses Titanium Backup and requires root, but rooting is not your problem.
9
The minimal requirements for building an Android app are usually the Android SDK and ant. Then, you are able to build the majority1 of projects with the following steps.
If there is no build.xml generate it
android update project -p . -n $PROJECT_NAME -s
Then build the project with
ant debug
which will create an .apk signed with your debug key.
All ...
9
Adblock forums says
this product is outdated (not maintained anymore), eventually use adblock browser for android
Also, see this post
see what said an eyeo moderator:
"Unfortunately at the moment we have no Android developer, therefore solving real issues is kind of difficult."
That's probably why all links on the official site are dead. They ...
8
As eldarerathis already pointed out in his comment on your question: If the app is already installed, and the certificate matches, you will be prompted whether you want to replace it. If the certificates differ, there's a conflict: The app cannot be updated due to the mismatch, and it cannot be installed along as the package name is already in use (apps use ...
8
You can e.g. use Raccoon for that – a phantastic Java app I'm using:
Raccoon (source: Tutonaut; click image for larger variant)
The app requires credentials of a Google account (you can either use your own, in which case you also can access apps you've bought – or use Raccoon's companion-app DummyDroid to create an alternative profile, including fake-...
8
There are multiple possibilities for this. One is using the appropriate counter-parts from the µg project (pronounced "micro-G"; formerly known as NOGAPPS) – in this case Phonesky (the inofficial Google PlayStore Client) or BlankStore (same thing, basically). Each of these two would run directly on the device, no Google-Apps required (hence the name "NOGAPPS"...
8
I did a bit of digging and it is possible without System permissions from API 21 onwards https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/pm/PackageInstaller.html.
In fact, there is a code sample by Google which shows how to do it. https://github.com/googlesamples/android-testdpc/blob/master/app/src/main/java/com/afwsamples/testdpc/cosu/CosuUtils....
7
No, the application is still available for users who installed the play and only store can not be reinstalled. By Play Store
If you put back the google play, users can download and install it again.
But never, under policies of google, an apk can / will be deleted from the device remotely by google / application owner
But we had a case in the past, about ...
7
Try ES file explorer
Under settings select App Manager and select all apps. And select backup on the action bar below.
A backup of all apps apk is created to your SD card probably under backups folder(or check /set backup folder on your es file explorer, settings-> directory settings )
Now you've got all apps apk.. You can either transfer them through ...
7
Well... finding an old package, looking at those files I discovered the answer. Sometimes it takes very long to find it and the solution is simple.
Short Answer
You should also move "Phonesky.apk" to /system/app/ folder and then restart your phone.
Summary
Download the latest Play Store .apk (Try for example Android Police): http://www.androidpolice.com/...
7
Answering my own question, thanks to the method found on this View app's full package name? thread and the hint provided by Google App's URL in Google play.
I typed:
adb shell 'pm list packages -f searchbox'
And received:
package:/data/app/com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox-1.apk=com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox
7
Short answer: No.
Simple repacking cannot solve the compatibility problem. If an app requires "at least Android XX", that usually means it needs some conditions not met before it. There are new OS features introduced with each Android version, libraries get additional APIs/features, etc. – nothing of that can be solved by "repacking" the installation ...
7
Apk and zip files are essentially the same, compressed. Before the system can use the file it needs to decompressed. So the file is one size when downloaded and another size when installed.
Also note sometimes when apk's are installed, after being opened some data may need to be downloaded. So file size file will increase again.
Differences in size are ...
7
The Google play store, and other app stores, only list the main application (APK) size, not the total app size, which includes the OBB (Opaque Binary Blob) expansion files. OBBs are the extra files that an app downloads to run. There should be no difference in file size before the extra files are downloaded.
From the Play Store Developers section:
The ...
7
What is Android doing when it says “optimizing apps/system”?
Basically the android system will be creating an optimised version of each application. This process makes each app start as fast as possible with the new Android version.
While it says ‘optimising,’ operating system generates ‘odex’ files
for your apps from scratch. As a simple explanation, ...
6
If you're using su to get root privileges when you shell in (which you've indicated you are) then that means you're not root on the shell by default. adb pull fails with that error message because it doesn't have permission to index the directory and pull the contents.
You should be able to restart adb on your device with adb root first:
adb root
adb pull /...
6
Carl Parker writes about it on Android Authority:
(partly reproduced here in case the original post goes down)
For Apps Installed on the Device
Assuming you have installed the app on your device, go to the app’s
Google Play Store link and take note of the words after “?id=” and
ignore the rest.
Connect your device to the computer via USB
...
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