It can be really frustrating to find an Android app you really need (or at the very least want to try) only to discover Google Play thinks its incompatible with your device or the app is not available in your country.
I wish I could tell you there’s an app for that. One magical product that will solve all your problems. But there isn’t one. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. Aware of the risks you might be taking (you still have to pay attention to the app/game you want to download and make sure it’s stable and not malicious) here are some workarounds you can use to get those seemingly untouchable apps on your Android device.
VPN apps
Check out VyprVPN, Hotspot Shield VPN and OpenVPN Connect to begin with. The first two are solid apps offering a limited number of features/data for free, and OpenVPN Connect is one of the few, truly free VPN apps that may not be the most intuitive but it is speedy and reliable once you get it up and running.
.APKÂ downloader websites
I think of this method as the ‘lazy way’ of getting restricted Google Play apps. APK download websites let you paste an apps Google Play URL and extract the .apk file from there, allowing you to download it on your smartphone or computer. Two of the most reliable ones you can use are Evozi APK Downloader and APK DL.
Simply copy the Google Play URL of the app you want to download, paste it into one of the above mentioned websites, and save the .apk file on your Android device or PC. If you downloaded it on your computer, you’ll have to copy the .apk file to your phone’s storage to sideload it.
Third-party app stores
More often than not, third-party app stores have more permissive regulations compared to Play Store, so it’s always worth browsing the most popular ones for those titles you really want to get your hands on, but can’t from Google Play.
Also, don’t forget these app stores also store many apps that are not available at all in Google Play (courtesy of those strict regulations), so you may have a chance to find alternatives as well. We recently featured some of the best third-party Android app stores analyzing what they have to offer and how secure they are. Amazon App Store is obviously the largest app store for Android after Google Play and just as safe, but the others are definitely worth looking at as well.
With that said, you are free to browse other app stores than the ones we recommend, but we suggest you do your research before you actually hit the download button on any of the. Many of the lesser known app stores have weak or no security measures and often offer pirated apps that are illegal.
How do you bypass Google Play’s restrictions to download the apps you really want?
