How to Easily Install .APK Files

Have you ever downloaded a game onto your Android that wasn’t on the Google Play Store? If you have, it has most likely been an .APK file off the internet. This file is a direct download that formats the game into an app for your smartphone. Usually these will be games meant for game consoles, like PS2 or Nintendo 64, that are reprocessed to be emulated and run on your phone. OR, it may be a game that is for smartphone, but not officially released yet. A popular use of an .APK was PokemonGO. When it was first released in other countries before the U.S, we were able to download the .APK off the internet and play it anyway.

DISCLAIMER: Yes, as long as the application is meant to be FREE, this is LEGAL. If you are doing this with an app that is supposed to be paid for, but you’re downloading for free with an .APK link, THAT IS ILLEGAL. Anyway, if you’ve tried running your .APK you have probably had some trouble, I will run through the process with you as it is quite simple. With this you can run very cool, and usually inaccessible, games. To demonstrate, I will be downloading Nekki’s; Shadow Fight 3 (BETA)

Step 1: Download the .APK File from a safe site (Ex.: I trust .APK downloads from play.mob.org). Check the comments on the .APK, use your best judgement from where you download the files. IMPORTANT: Most sites will separate the .APK and Game Cache files; MAKE SURE YOU DOWNLOAD BOTH. They will both be needed to run the App.

Step 2: Install the .APK. Your Android phone will ask for access to download from an unknown source, give it permission to do so. Once it is installed, you may run the program if you wish but it will not yet work because we need to take care of our data/Cache files.

Step 3: Go into your files on your phone (I use WinRAR, but your default “MyFiles”/default file manager app works perfectly fine) Find the main folder that contains all the data for the game (as seen below) and unzip it.

Step 4: Now extract the folder containing the game’s data to THIS EXACT LOCATION “Internal Storage>Android>obb” -------------------->

Step 5: Once this is done, close out and run your app! This should

be all you need to do!

Recommended games are beta versions like this, or emulators where you can play games like the original Super Smash Bros. right on your phone! Hope this works for you, happy gaming!