APK File Extension – How to Open .APK Files in Windows

APK, short for Android Package Kit, is the .exe of Android OS. What this means is that, the APK files store information about a particular application. The apps are installed through these APK files, and these applications can be of any kind.

.APK File Extensions

If you download an app directly from the PlayStore, it is also an APK file. However, in that case, your device does all the work for you. Downloading APK files from third party sources can have altering benefits for a wide range of users.

So, if for some reason, you are in need of downloading the APK files other than the PlayStore, then you need to know how to work with APK files. In that case, we will how you can open these files on Windows.

Running APK files on Windows

BlueStacks is an awesome tool with a wide variety of features that lets you run APK files on Windows. It is free of cost and is very user-friendly.

Follow these steps to make use of BlueStacks:

  1. Download BlueStacks from its official website.
  2. Install BlueStacks.
  3. After installing it, you can simply install the APK files or download the apps from within the BlueStacks.

Nox is also a great android Emulator for Windows. Make sure to check it out as well.

Using Android SDK for opening APK files on Windows

Android SDK is a tool for developing Android apps. SDK is short for Software Development Kit. To run APK files on Windows 10, using Android SDK, ensure that you have the latest versions of Android SDK and Java installed.

Make sure to download only the command line tools for Android SDK, if you are only using it to open APK files.

  1. Download Android SDK and install it.
  2. Head over to the Control panel and go to the ‘System’ category and then to the ‘Advanced system settings’.
  3. Under the Advanced tab, click on the ‘Environment Variables’. Click on the ‘Path’ and then click on ‘Edit’.
  4. In front of variable value, type this:
  5. C:\Android\sdk\tools;C:\Android\sdk\platform-tools

Now you can run the APK files on your computer.

Opening APK files on Android

If you are in need of downloading an APK file on an Android device from a source other than PlayStore, here’s how you can make it run:

  1. Open Settings on your Phone and go to ‘apps and notifications’. Head over to the ‘advanced’ section.
  2. Go to the ‘special app access’ and then enable the ‘install unknown apps’ option.
  3. In some versions of Android, the procedure might be different:
  4. Head over to the Settings and go to the ‘apps and notifications’.
  5. Now go to ‘security’ and enable the option that says, ‘install the app from unknown sources’.

These were some of the methods that you can adopt to open APK files on Windows. Hopefully, this article is useful to you.

Leave a Comment