What's apk+ ?

[deusdat]

When I backup an Android app, I've noticed that some newer apk files have actually the extension apk+
What's the meaning of this?
Thanks.

 

[ocnbrze]

When I backup an Android app, I've noticed that some newer apk files have actually the extension apk+
What's the meaning of this?
Thanks.

what do you mean by backing up apps? how are you backing up apps? are you in development?

 

[deusdat]

what do you mean by backing up apps? how are you backing up apps? are you in development?

No. You can backup apps in Android using for example CX File Explorer. This means that you simply save the corresponding apk file in a folder (called backup).

 

[James_Watson]

Do you mean the XAPK file format?

 

[deusdat]

All I see is a file with the extension .apk+ (e.g. flightradar24...apk+, or Gboard...apk+)
I didn't find anything by googling.

 

[Unforgiven]

Is this where the apk includes both the app as well as the supplemental download information? I seem to remember another discussion along these lines. I wish I could find it.

 

[Jason Hernandez1234]

When I backup an Android app, I've noticed that some newer apk files have actually the extension apk+
What's the meaning of this?
Thanks.

The .apk+ extension that you are seeing in some Android app backups is a file extension used by the Helium Backup app. Helium Backup is a popular backup tool for Android devices that allows users to backup and restore their apps and data without requiring root access.

The .apk+ extension is used by Helium Backup to indicate that the APK file has been backed up along with its associated data. The plus sign (+) is used to differentiate these backup files from regular APK files.

When you use Helium Backup to create a backup of an app, it creates a backup file with the .apk+ extension that contains both the APK file and the app's data. This allows you to restore the app along with its data, preserving your app settings, user data, and other app-specific information.

It's worth noting that Helium Backup is not the only app that uses this file extension. Some other backup and restore apps may also use the .apk+ extension to indicate that a file contains both the APK and data for an app. However, the use of this file extension is not standardized across all backup tools, so it's important to check the documentation of the backup tool you are using to understand how it stores and restores app data.