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up vote 16 down vote favorite
3

I'm new to development and trying to get a sense for the obstacles to publication

If I need to circumvent the Google Play app store, can I publish a game to a website that people can visit in a mobile browser and download and install like any other app?

How does publishing "around" Google Play work? Are there any particular success stories, best practices or problems I should be aware of?

Apologies if there is an obvious answer. I believe I found the answer at one point, but I don't remember and can't find the link.

edit: Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the help. Definitely answers my questions. Looks like I have some options!

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1  
It sounds like you mean APK. –  Anko 2 days ago
    
I guess I just want to confirm that an APK is all that is needed... there is nothing to prevent someone from downloading an APK and installing simply because they didn't go through the Google Play store (no authentication or whatever) –  user1879855 2 days ago
1  
There are a myriad of alternate "app stores" you can use, like SlideMe. –  ashes999 2 days ago
    
I found a list of a bunch of other Android app stores. If anyone has experience with them, make a community wiki answer so we can pool knowledge. –  Anko 2 days ago

4 Answers 4

up vote 25 down vote accepted

Android is an open platform, so you are free to exchange APKs by other means—for instance by email. The Android Development Center discusses this.

The caveat: App installation from non-marketplace sources is disabled by default in the security settings of most Android distributions. Users must manually enable the option first.

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2  
I believe some devices also lock this out all together which completely stops users from sideloading. –  Vality 2 days ago
5  
@Vality The first year of AT&T-branded phones hid the "Unknown sources" checkbox, but not any modern Android phones or tablets that I'm aware of. Besides, everything with Play Store supports adb install over USB. –  tepples 2 days ago
up vote 6 down vote

Yes there are other platform where you can publish your game and they have huge market there.

Amazon App Store

Samsung Galaxy Apps

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up vote 4 down vote

Apart from the usual communication methods (such as email, and just downloading it from a website) there are places you can upload an APK (like an alternate store. For example, Aptoide).

Naturally, these are (most likely) less well known than the Google Play Store, and probably get less traffic.

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up vote 1 down vote

I dislike Google's stuff on Android due to their apk Google Services which eats battery and RAM, updates itself and who knows what else... so that ticks off Google Play from my list of apk sources. I'm using Amazon App store, SlideME store, Aptoide and such, and there is actually a lot of users doing the same, so uploading on one of those could be an option for you. Now i know devices have the "unknown sources" option ticked automatically, but users who try to find alternative for GPlay are most likely to know about that and probably have that turned off, i don't see why some people see it as an obstacle. Now depending on the content/type of your apk and your wishes/plans for it you can see whats better for you, go for the masses(GPlay) or avoid GPlay (for some reason you have) and go to alternatives

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