All of us who are loyal to Android phones would have visited the Google Play Store at one time or the other to download an app. It is the official app marketplace for Android users. But what if you are looking for something that is not available at the Google Play Store? Or in case you are willing to spend money on downloading an app? In these situations, you can try using other free Android app stores. There are plenty of other options out there.
Some users are apprehensive of visiting these app stores since it is widely believed that they are not really safe. While that is true to a certain extent, you can always find ones that are trustworthy. In this article, we have put together the top 5 online Android app stores for your convenience. These app stores offer paid apps for free and at times, even provide discounts on premium applications. Chances of getting affected by malware are drastically reduced if you do your research properly and work only with reliable platforms.
Since the installation of Android apps from any source besides the Google Play Store is blocked by default, you will have to enable it. In order to do it, go to Settings and tap on Security. Click on “Unknown Sources” to enable it. This will enable app installation from unverified sources. Now that you have given permission to download, let’s take a look at the top 5 online Android Apps Store.
AppsApk Store
Appsapk is a growing website, gaining more attention every day. Besides the usual collection of apps and games, you will also find themes, launchers, regular and live wallpapers, tutorials, and a blog. If you are interested in knowing more about this world, this is an excellent place to get started. You will see posts, such as “Best Garageband Alternative For Windows PC” and “Best iOS or iPhone Emulator for”. There are also a ton of posts on how to root, install, and uninstall services.
If you are not sure what you want to download, you can also take a look at their collections, such as the top 10 battery savers, 10 best applications, and 10 best web browsers. Each collection’s items will have a short description to go with it.
Aptoide
Aptoide is an online website that contains a variety of APKs that you can download and use for free. It has been designed as per Google standards. You will be surprised to see the experience is as pleasant and smooth as the Google Play Store. The interface is non-cluttered, clean, and neat. Navigation is no trouble either. This open-source Android app store has over 700,000 apps and has, to its credit, over 3 billion downloads. The platform is so smooth and trustworthy that, since its establishment in 2009, over 150 million users have used it.
Another feature of Aptoide is the fact is that the makers have created several different versions of this app store. They have one for smartphones and tablets, another edition for smart TVs and Set-top Boxes, Aptoide VR and Aptoide Kids for children’s devices as well. This platform allows the users to directly download the APKs to their devices and install them. Since it is safe and reliable, it is popularly counted to be among the top alternative for Google Play Store.
ApkMirror
ApkMirror is known for the huge amount of free APKs it has. Paid apps are not accessible here. Since this platform does not have its dedicated app, users can only use their content by visiting their website. You can be assured that the apps you will find here are free of viruses, malware, and other malicious attacks. On the homepage of the website, all the apps have been arranged in a chronological manner. This makes it extremely easy to search for the app you have in mind.
The apps determined to be most popular in the last month or in the last 24 hours are shown in a separate section according to decreasing popularity. This is a great section to visit if you need any suggestions or help in understanding which one to choose. The user-interface of ApkMirror is also quite user-friendly. However, do note that ApkMirror is more of an app repository than an app store.
Amazon AppStore
The Amazon App Store is a pretty well-known platform and is more commonly known as the Amazon Underground. It is also considered to be a worthy alternative for the Google Play Store since you will be able to download paid apps for free here. The app’s library has about 334,000 different varieties of applications. The best part about the Amazon Underground is their “free app of the day” feature where they put up one premium add a day for free. If you are come back to check every day, who knows what app you will find for free? Offering a large collection of books, movies, music, and games, the apps available here are high in variety and low in price. This is a great online Android app store since its content is malware-free and the interface is user-friendly.
F-Droid
F-Droid is another popular Android app store that makes it to this list of the top 5 online Android apps store thanks to its dedication for allowing only free and open source software apps on its platform. The huge number of apps you will find here are neatly categorized, making it a joy to browse through. Interestingly, the app store is run solely by volunteers. They rely on donations to keep it running. Developers find it quite attractive since they have access to the codes of these Android applications that they can use to create their own applications. One drawback for users could be the fact that the apps don’t have reviews, which might be disappointing if you rely heavily on reviews. F-Droid is known for its extensive collection of productivity and power user apps.