As you likely know, the Google Play Store is one of the biggest app markets for smartphones with millions of apps and games. There are countless new ones being added every day.
Not everyone knows it, but there are a lot of Android apps that are available for download outside of the Google Play Store – as APK files. For whatever reason, they can be installed separately. Some may not be allowed to be uploaded while others are purposefully direct-to-user.
While these apps might not have met some policy guidelines of Google Play Store to be uploaded to it, they are still incredibly useful and are worth installing on your device. As these apps generally are not hosted on a common market place, here is a list of five non-Play Store Android apps to download and install on your phone.
YouTube Vanced
YouTube is unarguably one of the most popular Android apps with over a billion downloads by and millions of daily active users. However, there are some things that people prefer that the app doesn’t have like unskippable ads or stopping the video once you leave the app.
While YouTube does offer a premium subscription plan, not everyone might want to pay just to get these features which could be made available for free on the desktop version by using an adblocker.
If you are one among them, then you might be interested in knowing about YouTube Vanced, which is a modded version of the official YouTube app with added features like ad blocking, background and screen off playback, theme options, auto repeat mode and much more. You can even set the default resolution for your videos and add gesture options for controlling the volume and brightness in the videos.
You can download either the APK for rooted or non rooted devices based on your preference and if you install the MicroG plugin APK from the website you would also be able to sign in to your Google account to sync all your subscriptions and playlists to the YouTube Vanced app.
Download Link: YouTube Vanced
GBInsta
Just like YouTube Vanced, GBInsta is a modded version of the official Instagram app for Android and it packs in some of the most requested and useful features that are unavailable in the official app.
You can install the GBInsta app alongside the official Instagram on your device and use both the apps simultaneously as well.
Its features include being able to copy bio of users, copy comments, download photos and videos directly from the app, download stories and much more. You can see the full list of features and download the APK file for the latest version of GBInsta from the official website linked below.
Download Link: GBInsta
Mixplorer
Mixplorer is a fully functional and a feature packed file manager app which also includes additional options for rooted device from XDA Developers.
The app supports almost all kinds of files including packing and unpacking of compressed files. It comes with a built in image viewer and music player and supports over 19 cloud service providers including Google Drive and One Drive to view and access your cloud files as well.
The app is also highly customizable with options for tabbed viewing of folders like the Windows File Explorer and it evens supports encryption and decryption of files. You can post any questions about the app or download the latest version whenever it is released, from the official forums page.
Download Link: Mixplorer
Snaptube
Snaptube is by far the most feature rich media downloading manager app for Android I have come across. It basically allows you to download videos from any popular social media or video hosting service including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Sound Cloud, Vimeo and much more. You can also download the audio versions whenever supported and play these files right from the app.
Snaptube allows you to select the quality of the file before downloading so that you can save your data whenever possible. You can either copy the URL of the video or audio you want to download and paste it to the app to download it, or use the bookmarked page in the app to visit the sites you want and download the videos directly to the app.
Download Link: Snaptube
WiFiKill
WiFiKill is the only app in this list that requires root access to be able to work and it is also one of the most useful apps in the list. The app is completely free and it basically scans your WiFi network and presents you with the list of all devices connected to it. Moreover, it allows you to remove the devices you don’t want to be connected to your network or that you think is suspicious or unknown.
The app displays many useful information about the devices connected to your network like their name, what websites they are currently on, amount of data they are consuming and as well as their IP and MAC addressed.
You can even use these information to permanently disconnect these devices and block them from connecting to your network by adding their IP or MAC addresses to the filtering options of your router configuration settings.
Download Link: WiFiKill
