Installing unofficial Android Apps

One cool thing about android, is that alternate market places are actually allowed by google (for example, you can download AppBrain).

As for the developer contract, they don’t restrict you selling your app however you like – you can even just sell the .apk file directly.

According to this page, installing .apk files directly is possible  as follows:

1. Copy the APK file you want to install to your phone’s memory card and insert the card into your Android phone.
2. Go to Android Market and search for the Apps Installer application.
3. Open it and click on the Install button.
4. After it is installed, just open it. It will show you all the APK files stored directly in the root directory of your memory card.
5. Just click on the application you want to install and it will be installed.

Since I have the SDK installed, I can use that to install.  It’s quite easy (if you have the SDK, otherwise maybe a fair bit of bother just for installing apps).

1. Make sure you have the Android USB Drivers (OS X users need not).
2. Go to Settings -> Application Settings and enable Unknown Sources. (this allows you to install from outside the Android Market).
3. Also go to Settings -> SD Card and Phone Storage -> Disable Use for USB Storage.
4. In the command shell, type: adb install path/file.apk and you’re done!

Market Enabler is a good starting point, which allows you to fake various countries for your SIM card in order to buy applications from countries which are not yet supported.  It’s a bit ridiculous really, I hate it when a silly boolean switch is imposed by the corporate folks like that…