Guides

The full process for installing an app from a downloaded .apk file instead of the Play Store -- enabling installs from unknown sources, running the installer, and what to do if Android blocks it.

Sideloading on a TV device works differently from a phone -- no touchscreen file manager by default, so this covers the two common methods: a file-manager app, or pushing the APK over the network with ADB.

An open-source client for the Google Play Store that lets you download Play Store apps anonymously or with your own Google account, without installing the actual Play Store/Play Services apps.

ADB (Android Debug Bridge) installs an APK straight from your computer over USB or Wi-Fi -- useful for devices with an awkward on-device file browser (TVs, some tablets) or installing several APKs at once via script.

F-Droid is a free, open-source app store for Android — every app in its main repository is built from source and verified to be free/open-source software, and it's the actual index this site's own Android catalog syncs from.

A power-user tool that tracks apps published directly on GitHub Releases (and several other sources) and notifies you of, or auto-installs, updates — solving the update problem for apps not published on F-Droid or Play.

Magisk is the standard modern tool for rooting Android devices in a way that can hide itself from apps that check for root — this is a conceptual overview of the process, since exact steps vary significantly by device manufacturer and model.

Shizuku lets ordinary apps use higher-privilege system APIs (normally reserved for ADB or root) with your explicit per-app permission — a middle ground between a completely stock device and full root access.

Why some Android apps ship as several files instead of one -- what a base APK, a split config APK, and an .aab actually are, and why installing them in the wrong way causes a crash or an install failure.

Play Protect flags almost every app installed outside the Play Store, regardless of whether it's actually harmful -- this explains what the warning really means, and how to judge whether a specific install is safe.

Apps installed via a downloaded APK/XAPK don't auto-update through the Play Store -- this covers how updates actually work for sideloaded apps, and how to check for them safely.

Run a full Android system in a lightweight container on Linux -- the actively maintained, Wayland-based successor to the now-deprecated Anbox project.

XAPK bundles an app's main APK together with its OBB expansion data (or split config APKs) in one .xapk file -- it needs a dedicated installer app, since Android has no built-in XAPK support.