How to open apk extension. How to install an apk file on Android

Today we will discuss how to open APK files on your computer. This is an installation type of materials for the Android OS. In other words, such files are used in tablets and smartphones. Using these materials, programs are installed on mobile devices. The APK installation package stores the application itself and the files it needs to function. Essentially, these are archives.

7-Zip

If you are wondering how to open APK files on your computer and how to launch them, you need to know that there are special Android simulators, including YouWave and BlueStacks. They allow you to perform similar actions. However, if you want to know how to open an APK file on your computer to view the contents of the package, check out a tool called 7-Zip. We are talking about a free archiver. simple The window consists of a main menu, as well as Functional buttons with Russian-language prompts. After installation, the tool is integrated into the menu automatically. It is possible to use the command line.

Developer Platform

If you want to figure out how to open and edit APK files on your computer, check out Eclipse. We are talking about a platform that is based on open source code. The main purpose of the tool is to improve productivity in software development. The platform works stably on various Windows, Solaris, Mac OS.

WinRAR

This archiver will also help you solve the problem of how to open APK files on your computer to view its contents. The program has a high data processing speed. Using WinRAR, you can also split a data array into a certain number of volumes with a given size. Using the application, you can protect your data with a password.

WinZip

If you are wondering how to open an APK file on your computer, pay attention to this application. We will talk about which can also open data packages that interest us. There is an abundance of all kinds of tools that are built into an intuitive interface. One of the features of the application is the presence of a special wizard that simplifies the process of extracting material as much as possible. The user is offered a sequence of actions, including certain leading questions. Using the program, you can also try to recover damaged data. Files are checked for errors and corrected automatically. You can directly from the program using built-in tools send a package to a friend using email. Using hotkeys you can process several files at the same time. WinZip integrates into the system menu, making it incredibly easy to interact with the tool. There is also a respectable support and assistance center here. The built-in manual describes all the intricacies of working with the application. A representative of the development team can be contacted by email.

Other programs

It should be said that you can open the APK file on your computer using some other programs, which we will talk about now. One such application is called Hamster Free. This archiver is easy to use and fully supports multi-core processors. This is a free tool. The application has a pleasant interface and support for the Russian language. Integration into the Explorer menu allows you to get instant access to the main functions, including unpacking data packages, which we need.

The next application we'll discuss is called Universal Extractor because it also supports the tool we're interested in. The tool extracts data from a package with ease. In addition, we should discuss ExtractNow, a program that will also do an excellent job of solving the problem. The app also masters the art of opening apps and unpacking them. You can retrieve data from multiple packages at the same time. The application interface is simple and intuitive. To process data, you simply need to move it with the mouse to the main window of the tool. The application also includes a data search system. Reference documents are available. As soon as the program is minimized, a special icon will appear in the system notification area. There is a function “On top of all windows”. You can create reports on completed operations.

Next, we will discuss the program, which was already mentioned above, in a little more detail. It's called YouWave. Thanks to this solution, you can run a virtual machine on your PC, through which you can play Android applications and games. Now you know how to open an APK file on a computer, what program can do this, and what are the main capabilities of such tools.

There are many interesting and useful applications for the Android operating system. Often these applications are of interest to users who do not have an Android smartphone. Fortunately, this problem can be solved without purchasing a new device. Instead, you can simply open the APK file on your computer and use the application you need.

There are many different programs available to run APK files on your computer. We have already described some of them in the article “”. But most of these programs are too heavy and complex. Therefore, you don’t want to install them for the sake of one APK file. In this article, we will offer you an easier way to open APK files on a computer running Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10.

So, in order to open an APK file on a computer, we need the NOX APP PLAYER program. This program is free, and you can simply download it from the official website of the developer (). The installation process of NOX APP PLAYER is extremely simple. Run the installation EXE file and follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

After the installation is complete, the Android operating system will begin loading. This will take about another 20-30 seconds. After which you will see the desktop.

The first thing you need to do is go to the NOX APP PLAYER settings and enable ROOT. To do this, click on the gear-shaped button, which is located in the upper right corner of the program.

After that, set the ROOT function to On and save the settings using the button at the bottom of the screen.

Once ROOT is enabled, you can open the APK file. To do this, click on the APK download button, which is located on the right side of the NOX APP PLAYER program window.

After this, the program will inform you that APK files can be opened by simply dragging and dropping. But it’s not clear how this function works, so click on the “I know” button to continue.

After this, the usual window for selecting a file will open. Here you just need to select the APK file that you want to open on your computer.

After this, the installation of the APK file in the NOX APP PLAYER program will begin. After installation is complete, the application will launch automatically, and an icon will appear on the Android desktop to launch this application manually. Please note that sometimes the application refuses to start the first time. In this case, you just need to open it again and it will work.

If in order to interact with an open application you need to simulate any functions of an Android smartphone, then for this there is a toolbar on the right side of the program window.

It should be noted that you can also literally open an APK file. To do this, right-click on the APK file and select “Open with – Other application”.

After this, a window will open to select an application. Here you need to select any archiver (for example, 7-zip) and click on the “Ok” button.

After this, you will see the entire contents of the APK file that you opened.

If necessary, you can extract any data from the APK file.

To run Android applications on a PC, you need to install an emulator. There are quite a few similar programs, and the most famous include Bluestacks and Droid4x. You can download them from the official websites of the developers. After installing the emulator, Android applications can be added to it in two ways - directly installing APK files downloaded from the Internet, or downloading software from Google Play.

Most emulators allow you to access the official repository, you just need to log in with your Google Account.

Programs like Bluestacks and Droid4x are necessary primarily for launching so-called “exclusives” - applications that are not presented anywhere except Android. Also, these emulators can help owners of outdated smartphones with launching new games. From the point of view of telephone functionality, such software is practically useless - there is no sending SMS or calls. Below we will look at a couple of the most popular emulators and provide brief instructions on how to use them.

In a sense, this application cannot be considered a full-fledged emulator - it lacks a number of advanced settings, and the full name also includes the word Player, which implies a player rather than an emulator. Nevertheless, Bluestacks, which recently updated to the second version, is one of the leaders in its segment. Bluestacks 2 has a more flexible and at the same time easier interface for PC owners; you can download it from the official website.

All opened applications are displayed on the top panel, like tabs in a browser, and a vertical set of icons on the left is used to change the volume, take screenshots, etc. The standard launcher is moderately convenient, and the status bar is practically no different from that in Android. Connecting your Google Account to Bluestacks is easy and allows you to download apps directly instead of installing APKs from Windows. Although the second method also has a right to life, especially in the case of paid programs.

Bluestacks supports most Android apps, is updated regularly, and is very easy to set up. It can be safely recommended to those who want to launch some kind of mobile application on a PC without any fuss.

Video instructions for launching an Android application on a PC

Droid4x features additional settings and an interface more similar to what Android users are used to. The main control elements here are located at the bottom - home, back buttons, etc. This scheme is very similar to the one in the previous version of Bluestacks and any user can understand it without difficulty.

To download Android applications, Droid4x has both a mechanism for working with APK and the ability to connect a Google Account. After installing the program, the corresponding icon is added to the list of applications available for launch on the emulator. The mechanism is as simple as in the case of Bluestacks and any user can master it.

In addition to the emulators for Android presented above, there are many others, so the user can easily find a worthy alternative in any search engine for the queries “android emulator”, “android emulator”, etc.

Instructions for launching Android applications through emulators:

1. Installing the emulator.
2. Download the Android application (from third-party sources in APK format or directly from the emulator via Google Play or other markets).
3. Launch the installed application.

Not even all owners of devices with the Android operating system know what an APK file is. What can we say about those who have never used phones or tablets with this system. However, even owners of Windows computers can get a lot of useful things out of APK files.

First, let's understand what files are.

Android Package is a file extension that is used to distribute programs for any device on which Android is installed. In Windows, to install the program you need to find the .exe file. In Android, you need to find an APK for this. Such files are distributed through sites with software for phones or on special forums.

Android Package is an archive that stores the application itself and all the files necessary for its operation. .

Why are they needed and why can they be useful to owners of simple computers?

Many interesting and unusual applications have already been written for devices with Android OS. Most of them do not have a desktop version. In this case, if you want to play your favorite game on your phone, but you don’t have it at hand, you will need to install the APK file on your computer.

Another situation where you might need to open an APK on your computer is to view its contents. This may be necessary to partially change it. For example, translate it into the desired language.

Important! The files we are interested in do not have any additional encryption. An APK file is nothing more than an archive in which application data is stored.

View content

Now we will learn how to view the contents of a file, look at its structure and, if necessary, make changes to it. So we need:

You can also unpack this archive to your computer and access it at any time.

But most are still interested in how to start using applications on their computer. This will be a little more difficult to do, but still quite simple. Everyone can do this.

A telephone is also a small computer. The only difference is the fundamentally different software. Therefore, you will need to install a special program - emulator

As the name implies, such a program creates a system running Android on your device. You will be able to download, install any applications on the emulator and use them directly through your computer.

Android emulators are becoming more and more popular and in demand due to the growing number of unique applications. Now several developers can offer a high-quality and stable emulator. Let's look at several emulators and choose the one most suitable for your tasks.

The most famous, widespread and used emulator is Bluestacks.

To begin with, we will open our file on it.

Important! Bluestacks is ideal for opening games, and is most often used for this. The disadvantages of the application include an overly cluttered interface in some places and a large amount of unnecessary information, which will not be useful to everyone.

Nox App Player

But this program is poorly suited for games. They often display graphic elements incorrectly. In this emulator, the developers focused on working with programs. You can get root in a couple of clicks. If you want to open the APK with this application, then you need:

Viewing content on Android

To view the contents of the apk file, and not install it completely, we will be helped by a powerful program Apk editor for Android. So we need:

Installing smartphone apps on your device is not that difficult. Any user can do this.

Video - How to open an apk file on a computer

The Apk file is an executive archive for Android devices. Its name stands for: “Android Package File”. It belongs to the category of executable files. Few people know about the existence of such files and how to work with them. When encountering such a file for the first time, they wonder: “How to open Apk files?” This article will answer this question.

What is Apk

Files with the extension “Apk” - these are the installation files, which are used by the Android system to install programs. This installation package contains the program and all the files necessary for the application to function fully. You can download it on your computer, smartphone or tablet.

Apk packages are archives that can be opened with any archiver. It is worth understanding that there is no point in opening such archives with a regular archiver on a computer, because the computer will not be able to launch the application correctly. To run the application on a computer, more advanced programs are used, which will be discussed below.

From your computer you can view archive contents. To do this, you need to launch a regular archiver, for example, WinRar and after changing the extension from “Apk” to “zip”, just run it.

It was developed by the Open Handset Alliance in collaboration with Google. Files of this type are contained on the Google Market server, from which they can be easily downloaded. They are used to install various applications. This is usually done automatically so that the user does not even know what extension is used by the installer file. However, despite everything, you can launch it manually, because it is not encrypted. You have to manually install applications that the user downloaded from the Internet.

You can do whatever you want with the name, but for the application to work correctly, extension should remain the same.

How to open on a computer

If you are wondering: “Apk? How to open it?”, then this section is what you need. As it has already turned out, files with the Apk extension cannot simply be launched on a computer. But this does not mean that they cannot be launched at all. You just need to use special programs to start it.

Programs that can run a file with the “Apk” extension can be divided into three groups:

Archivers

As mentioned above, you can use them to view the contents and also unzip them. In most cases, the average user will not need this.

Programs that can handle this task, can be attributed to:

• WinRar. A program that requires paid activation, but works without it. It has high data processing speed and the ability to set a password for the archive.
• 7-zip. The program is completely free, its interface is intuitive and Russified. After installation, it is integrated into the operating system menu.
• Hamster Free. Completely free program. Very easy to use. Fully supports multi-core processors. It has a nice and convenient interface in Russian. Immediately integrated into the Explorer menu, which allows you to use its main functions by pressing the right mouse button.

There are many more archivers; above is a list of the best options for extracting Apk files.

Programs for developers

One of the ways to open Apk is program to change application. These programs are based on open source code. Among them, it is worth highlighting a program called Eclipse. The main purpose of this program is to increase productivity in software development.

Virtual machines

The main and only purpose of Android virtual machines is run the android operating system on your computer to ensure that all applications available for smartphones and tablets become available for personal computers.

To install an Android virtual machine, you can use the VirtualBox program. In addition to this program, you need to download an ISO file with the Android operating system.

After starting VirtualBox, you will need to click the “Create” button and follow the instructions to create a virtual machine. After that, in the settings, specify the path to the ISO file with the operating system.

Now you can install Android on VirtualBox. For this you need to click on the “Run” button. After installation, you will need to start the virtual machine, configure Android (set the date, time, language, region, etc.).

Installing applications on Android without Apk files is impossible. However, not all users encounter them, due to the automatic installation of applications through the Play Market. However, if you come across such a file, there is no need to panic. In the Android operating system it will start without problems and install the application archived in it. In another system, it can be unzipped or changed if you have the appropriate programs.