One of the main reasons to choose an Android phone has to do with the installation of .APK files. The freedom to install apps from outside the Play Store is one of the biggest benefits of the operating system, but it’s crucial to do so safely to avoid scares.

You might still be unsure about how to check if an APK is safe, so I’ll share with you the two main methods I use depending on the type of file I’m going to upload.

For official apps outside Play Store: APKPure

For whatever reason, it is possible that you want to install official applications from outside the Play Store. There is a very simple way to check whether the application you downloaded is signed by the original developer: signature.

Through APKpure, we can fully verify this signature verification for applications downloaded in APK format. Just access this section on their website and wait for their decision. If there is any abnormality, the app will show it to you.

The main limitation of this website is that it only allows you to analyze applications that are 100 Mb in size, nowadays there are many APKs that are much larger than this figure. In such a situation, there are more alternatives.

For apps outside Play Store: VirusTotal

My trusty free service for checking if an APK contains any type of easily detectable malware is Virustotal. The maximum file size in this case is 550 Mb; This is a much more realistic figure considering the current weight of apps on Android.

VirusTotal will scan the file against its massive database for malware. It will provide us with a complete list showing the possible dangers (if any) of the application.

Neither of these two alternatives are foolproof, but they are undoubtedly practically mandatory prevention tools to ensure that the file does not give us headaches.

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