Android Tip: Is it good to sideload apps in your smartphone?

One of Android’s distinctly open features is that, unlike on iOS, you’re not restricted to using one company’s app store. Most users will find every app they want on Google’s Play store because there are worthwhile protections that come along with that.

If you need something that’s not in there, nothing is stopping you from heading to Amazon’s app store, your phone maker’s app store, or even downloading the app and installing it as an APK (the extension for an Android Application Package file).

Don’t forget, if you do go this route, be absolutely sure that you’re getting the app from a reliable source since third-party app stores are the number-one source of Android malware.

Do some research first! Also be sure to turn off the Install Unknown Apps setting for the source after you install the app you want, just in case.

One example of why you might want to sideload (that is, install outside of the official app store) an app is the mega-popular game Fortnite.

Android users can go to the game maker’s site to get the APK, while iPhone users who want to install the game for the first time are simply out of luck.

Therefore, it is good to download apps from other sources but at the same time it’s quite risky that can harm your Android device, or maybe you could become a part of a data breach.