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What exactly is 'Phonesky.apk'

nickdalzell

nickdalzell

Extreme Android User
I noticed this before on many tablets/phones running Android. it's in /system/app. i hear that deleting it kills Play Store, but i am curious as to *what* it does exactly. is it part of the phone app? why would it be on a non-3G tablet? does Play really need it? is it malware?
 
From a quick glance at its content it looks like an older version of the Play Store app than the update I have in /data/app/com.android.vending-1.apk. The AndroidManifest.xml files are very similar indeed, except that on my device Phonesky.apk claims to be version 4.0.25, whereas vending-1.apk is 4.3.11.

So my best guess is that this is the pre-installed version of the Play Store app (plus there's nothing else in my /system/app which looks like that). Why it's called Phonesky.apk I don't know.
 
that is interesting as there is already a PlayStore.apk in there, so i didn't think it was the store, i mean, PlayStore.apk and PlayServices.apk are what made me get a Chinese tablet to support Google Play, as it worked simply by copying those two into /system/app. i just noticed phonesky.apk in there and curious if it could be deleted, since it is not a phone. it thinks it's a phone, but it's a wifi cheap tablet. it even says 'your phone will shut down' when i select 'power off' from the shutdown menu.
 
My playstore is vending.apk but it came from a 4.2 gapps package. i tried to install an old version once because it gives a list of purchased apps and it was called phonesky.apk :thumbup:
 
the playstore.apk was version 3.1.0--the non-pastel older Play Store. i don't like the new UI but that may explain why mine is named different. I admit i never checked the name of the file on my GS3. it's the same one i copied though to the cheap tablet, as i have it saved in my Dropbox account.
 
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