You are required to manually grant access to various applications (i.e.

In recent years, Google has implemented new ways to protect you from being able to download malicious apps. So, you would need to download and sideload these APK files in order to get your favorite apps on this device. The Huawei P40, which has been stuck in the middle of the US and China trade war and does not have access to Google Play Services. One primary example as to why you would want to sideload an app is for a device that does not have access to the Play Store. This is the package format provided by Android for users to install applications and other media onto your Android device. When downloading an app not found in the Play Store, you will actually be downloading an “APK”. As we mentioned previously, this gives you access to applications that are more “diamonds in the rough”, or stand out from the crowd and the developer doesn’t want to go through the rigamarole of Google’s guidelines. If you aren’t aware of what it means to “sideload” an app on your Android phone or tablet, it essentially means you are installing a file on your device that’s not from the Play Store. For instance, Lawnchair launcher is available to download, but if you want faster updates, then you would need to download and install the APK from a site like APKMirror. But that’s simply not the case as other developers have created and released apps that are not readily available on the Play Store.įor one reason or another, these apps are not on the Play Store, but also don’t fall under the category of “malicious”. With the vast amount of options available on the Play Store, one would think that it’s the one-stop-shop for every app you could need.

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