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How to install (x)apks

R

Rgarner

Android Expert
I just got about my millionth phone, a Samsung A02s, and I'm trying to install apks from SD. Some of them have been easy to do, but others I haven't been able to even with apk pure. Is there some kind of "universal can opener" for this?
 
Rgarner said:
I just got about my millionth phone, a Samsung A02s, and I'm trying to install apks from SD. Some of them have been easy to do, but others I haven't been able to even with apk pure. Is there some kind of "universal can opener" for this?
Click to expand...
here is a pretty good guide on how to install apk's.
https://www.lifewire.com/install-apk-on-android-4177185

apk's should all be the same as far as installation. what happens with those difficult apk's? error messages? nothing happens?
 
Do you need an installer? I just allow one of my file explorers to install apps and then click on the apk (I'm sure it uses the system's built-in installer to carry out the action).

Of course I never give a browser that permission: it always seems like asking for trouble to give the app that will be targeted for dodgy app downloads the permission to install things as well. But it's the path of least resistance in modern Android versions so I'm sure that many people who install from outside the Play Store do just that...
 
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I got the XAPK Installer as recommended by puppykickr, but I still can't install the Nook apk. I'm not working on any others right now. The message is that I don't have anything capable and I might want to check the play store. I might not. Also, I apparently cannot move this app to SD. I'm not sure why not. I was hoping that if it and Nook were both on the card they could at least recognize each other and make the job simpler.
 
I checked the files manager that came with the phone, the only one I've got, and I didn't see any way to make it do that. However, when I went to settings and checked out permissions, it said the fm was allowed to install from unknown sources. Then why won't it work? I could do that with the Stylus.
 
The reason you can't move the app to SD will be because the developer has not chosen to support moving to SD. Ever since that feature was introduced it was always something the developer had to allow, and not all do (for various reasons). With fewer devices having SD cards these days, and the old "move to SD" being a legacy function anyway (Google stopped supporting it several years ago) I suspect that fewer apps support it than was once the case.

So am I reading it right, that the apk installer is telling you that you that you don't have anything capable of installing the apk? I just tried installing the xapk installer, then opened it and told it to install an apk and it told me that the xapk installer wasn't currently allowed to install apps and that I should go to settings to change that. There was also a button to do this as part of the message, and that was all that was needed. So is that different from what it told you? Or was it something else telling you that it couldn't do the job and that you should go to the Play Store?

And if the file manager can install apps, what happens if you try to use that instead of the installer?
 
Rgarner said:
I got the XAPK Installer as recommended by puppykickr, but I still can't install the Nook apk. I'm not working on any others right now. The message is that I don't have anything capable and I might want to check the play store. I might not. Also, I apparently cannot move this app to SD. I'm not sure why not. I was hoping that if it and Nook were both on the card they could at least recognize each other and make the job simpler.
Click to expand...

Where did you get the apk?
Is it compatible with the device, or is it the wrong version?
 
Here we go again. I should get that cpu checker you recommended for this phone, too. It might indeed be the wrong version.
 
The message is this: you don't have any apps that can open this type of file. You can search for one in the play store. That's from My Files. I don't currently have another file app. There was nothing in the message about allowing, going to settings, etc. I noticed in settings under apps there is a list of apps allowed to install from unknown sources. The only 4 are apk pure, fdroid, my files, and xapk installer. If all of them can do it, why is it that none of them can do it?
 
What is the extension of the file?
(The .xxx at the end of the title.)

Does this file show up as an apk or an xapk on Xapk Installer?

Is an icon related to the app shown, or is it showing something else- like the generic Android icon, a paper with the corner folded over, etc.
 
It's xapk. The generic folded paper is there. I don't know if that makes things worse but I wouldn't be surprised.
 
Does it show up on Xapk Installer?

If so, and it will not install, then there is another issue.

Try to find an apk version of the app.

Or else you will have to get a PlayStore version, and that would have to come directly from the PlayStore app.

If the app does not show up in the PlayStore app, then that means that it is not compatible with that device.

To top it off, the PlayStore is wrong sometines about what devices are and are not compatible with certain apps.
 
No foolin'...well, I ended up having to download from the net rather than using the SD version, but it's up and running at last. I got Moon+Reader for pretty much all eReader formats (man, I love REAL reading), and I guess I imported all the "books" I had on SD. I noticed, though, that when I tried to open any that weren't epub or pdf, My Files claimed that I had nothing to open them, check the play store, blah blah blah. That was understandable before I installed Moon+Reader but AFTER is a question mark.
 
That's a good point. The only thing is that way I won't be able to scroll through my downloads list and just pick some file at random and open it. I suppose if I just stick to the Moon I won't have to worry about it.
 
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