
This makes your app smaller (on average, 15% smaller than a universal APK) and faster to download, which can lead to more installs and fewer uninstalls. Android App Bundle: Google Play uses the app bundle to generate and optimize APKs for distribution for different device configurations and languages.

If you haven’t made the switch to app bundles yet, here are some of the benefits you’re missing: This will replace the APK as the standard publishing format. To bring these benefits to more users and focus on modern Android distribution that benefits all developers, Google Play will start requiring new apps to be published with the Android App Bundle starting August 2021. There are now over 1 million apps using app bundles in production, including the majority of the top 1,000 apps and games on Google Play such as Adobe, Duolingo, Gameloft, Netflix, redBus, Riafy, and Twitter. It's even possible to grab APK files from other sites.Since we launched the Android App Bundle in May 2018, we’ve seen our developer community embrace this new standard to benefit from streamlined releases and advanced distribution features. Surprisingly, downloading an APK directly from Google Play is actually simple.

Many reasons exist for Android users to consider looking for a way to download APK files without the inconvenience of Google Play. If you're looking at this post thinking "party time for pirates", then think again. Before proceeding, make sure you read our guide to sideloading to familiarise yourself with the process. Sideloading is simple, and means that you copy the APK from your desktop computer to your Android smartphone or tablet before installing it.
