[wplug] APK Sideloading

[Pat Barron]

On 2/24/2014 6:58 PM, DK wrote:
> Is it possible to copy the APK from another Android device that has already
> installed the app?

If the other Android device is rooted (or just very permissive about 
what it lets you get access to), you can grab the APK file out of the 
device filesystem.  Look in the /data/app directory.

If the other Android device is not rooted, but has access to the Google 
Play Store, you can install an application backup app (I personally use 
"AppMonster Free Backup Restore") and perform a backup.  This will dump 
all of the device's APKs (well, the ones that aren't protected, anyway) 
into a subdirectory on the SD card (or whatever pretends to be the 
non-internal storage, if you have a device with no SD slot).  You can 
then grab the APK out of the backup directory.


>
> Are there any other methods (albeit against Google Terms of Use) to
> download the APK from Google?

I'm not aware of any - and based on your description, I wouldn't trust 
that "apk-downloader" site, either....

--Pat.