The Google Play Store is the application store par excellence for Android devices. This is the official Google store where we can find and download tens of thousands of apps for our device. The problem with this store is that it is linked to Google, so if we do not log in, or our rom does not have Google Play Services (as happens with Huawei), we will not be able to use it. But that’s okay, since there are many other alternatives that we can use.
One of the advantages of Android over iOS is the freedom Google offers for users to install whatever they want, including third-party app stores . Although now iOS must also allow (by law) its installation, on Android these alternative stores have been with us for a long time, and they open up a new world of possibilities beyond Google.
F-Droid
Although it is one of the most unknown application stores, it is actually one of the best and most useful that we can find. F-Droid offers us a kind of App Store, but focused exclusively on free software. In this store we can find all kinds of open source applications, completely free, that generally do not reach the Google Play Store for various reasons.
This is one of the best alternative stores we can find. In addition to having its categories, its search engine, and many other additional functions, it is also capable of updating the apps on its own, and even updating itself when there are new versions of the store. It also alerts users when apps have strange permissions, such as tracking user behavior or location.
Amazon App Store
As could not be expected, Amazon also has its own alternative application store from which we can download and install Android apps without having to go through the Google Play Store. It is a very complete store launched several years ago, and which is increasingly present on more devices. This store plays a very important role, especially in Amazon’s own Fire devices, since they do not usually have Google Play Services installed.
Removing the applications that depend on Google services, most of the fundamental applications do have their place within this Amazon Appstore .
Aptoide
Another of the best-known application stores that we can find for Android. Years ago, Aptoide allowed you to download paid applications with dubious morality. However, several years ago it changed its business model completely and became a 100% legal Android application store.
This application store has a large amount of free software for Android that we can download and install directly from it. The apps are usually verified by a group of administrators, so it is safe software that will not endanger our PC.
Its main advantage is that it also allows us to download old versions of the programs, something very important if, after updating, something stops working. Its handicap is that it does not support paid apps.
APKMirror
Another of the alternative application stores to the Play Store most used when we have to find a specific app. As its name suggests, this store allows us to download the APKs of the applications and install them by hand on our device. This is useful, for example, if we want to make a backup copy of the apps to install them on another device or in case of resetting the PC.
Many of the applications found in the Play Store can be found here, since developers usually also upload their applications to this store in the form of a backup copy. In addition, it saves a history of versions so that, if we need it, we can download a previous version.
In addition to APK, this store allows us to download and install applications in other, much more efficient formats, such as APKM, XAPK and APKS. Of course, we will need its installer to be able to install these files.
