Find The App
The first step is finding what you want to download. Generally, you’re going to want to do this from a computer and web browser instead of from the Play Store app on your phone; unfortunately, Google doesn’t support this kind of direct downloading on your phone, likely for security reasons.
For our example, we will use Google Gemini, the shiny new replacement for their Bard AI tool. Remember that things like this will likely rely on Google Play Services, so it might not work well with just the APK, but the process is simple enough to work for any app you might want.
In your address bar, you’re going to want to copy the URL for this particular app. Once it’s copied, head over to apkcombo.com/downloader to get started.
Download The App
Once you’re on APKCombo’s download page, you can paste the URL right into their search bar. This will start to generate an APK for you to download directly to your computer.
After clicking the Generate Download Link, you can download the APK directly from the link that appears. It’ll be appended with APKCombo at the end before the .APK extension, but rest assured it’ll install just like any other APK you’d use.
Transfer it to your phone or tablet, back it up on your computer, store it on a cloud drive, or whatever else you might need. Easy!
Skip The Play Store And Use A Third-Party Site
If you know what you want without using the Play Store, several third-party sites host APK downloads and skip copying and pasting URLs across sites. APKMirror is probably the most well-known (and safest) site, although there are others just a few Google searches away. One advantage of using a site like APKMirror is using it via a browser on your mobile or tablet device.
APKMirror works similarly to the Play Store but skips a couple of steps in our instructions. You’d go directly to apkmirror.com and search for the app you’re interested in. Where this gets a little more complex is that you’ll likely see a couple of variants, especially for apps that target several different architectures or don’t use universal apps, IE. This app has specific versions for phones, tablets, and TV screens.
However, that gives you more granularity in downloading exactly what you want. If you’re looking for a streaming app’s very specific Android TV version, this is a good way to get it without jumping through many extra hoops. And if the app uploads a universal version, you can still get that.
No matter what you need these APKs for, this should help get your backup collection started. Remember that you’ll typically not find paid apps this way; you’ll have to buy those directly from the Play Store the old-fashioned way.
