The Android Market is how most people will find new applications for their phone but it’s not the only source. If you’re planning to download apps from other sources you’ll need to know how to install them.

Here’s some step by step instructions of how to install non Android Market apps for Windows users (after the break).

Method 1 – Installing applications using a third party  app

This is by far the easiest way of installing non-Market applications but you’ll need access to the Market in order to get hold of the installer. (We can’t find it for download anywhere else).

  • Download and install eoeAppInstaller to phone (Search for ‘app installer’ in the Android Market)
  • Download the application APK file you’re planning to install to your desktop or laptop
  • Allow installations from non-Market sources on your phone (Settings ->Applications ->Tick box)
  • Attach phone via the supplied USB cable
  • Mount phone (drag down notification bar displaying USB symbol)
  • Navigate to phone’s SD card via File Explorer and copy the APK file to the card
  • Unmount phone and unplug
  • Run eoeAppInstaller – this lists the APK files on your phone
  • Long press to install
  • Done (hopefully)

Method 2 – Installing apps via the SDK.

This is probably not for the faint-hearted but if you want to get stuck in, here’s a guide (using Windows)

  • Download the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) from the Android developer site and install onto a desktop machine or laptop
  • Turn on USB debugging on your phone (Settings -> Applications ->Development -> Tick box)
  • Attach phone via the supplied USB cable. Don’t let Windows automatically install the default USB driver! Point it at the driver in ‘Your_Path\Android SDK\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\usb_driver’. This can be a bit tricky on Vista as it will automatically install the driver whether you want it to or not. Some clues of the solution here if you’re keen. See note 2 & 3.
  • You’ll need to allow installations from non-Market sources on your phone (Settings ->Applications ->Tick box)
  • Download the application (APK file) to your desktop/laptop
  • Open a command prompt in Windows (Start -> Run -> type ‘cmd’)
  • Type ‘adb install path_to_file/example.apk’ (see note 4)
  • Cross fingers

Notes

  1. Method 1 should work on Vista and presumably Macs
  2. We might get around to doing a step by step Vista guide for method 2. It *is* possible to get the USB driver to work on Vista despite what you might read.
  3. If you’re trying method 2 using a Mac, you shouldn’t need the USB driver
  4. It’s much easier if you add the adb executable to Windows path (meaning you can run it from any directory). Instructions here.
  5. You’ll sometimes find that you download what claims to be an Android APK and it turns out to be a zip file. Try renaming it from, eg, example.zip to example.apk.
  6. These instructions tested on Google/T-Mobile G1
  7. Following either set of instructions isn’t guaranteed to work and we accept no responsibility if it all goes horribly, horribly wrong.
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