Downloading APK from Google Play using APK Downloader

After spending two consecutive days, I was finally able to download one APK from Google Play using APK Downloader and Google Chrome Portable V20.

Note: If you know a little bit of programming, you can use this link to download multiple APKs from Googe Play.

Here are a few steps I took to make sure I get everything working.

1)  Download Google Chrome from the following link

http://www.finaldown.com/download/software/browser-plugin/chrome/20.0.1132.47/20.0.1132.47_chrome_installer.exe

2)  Download 'APK Downloader extension' from the following link and extract it on your computer.


forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1260350

3) Download 'Device ID' application from Google Play on your device. For reference, I am providing following link.

If you don't want to download this app, there is one trick to get device ID on your phone which is mentioned in step 8.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.langlearner.deviceid

4) In step 1, we downloaded chrome.exe file. Now create a shortcut for this exe file by right clicking and clicking on 'Send To' menu item. Now on shortcut icon,

right click and it will open 'Shortcut' tab by default. Against 'Target' field, your values should be like this. Don't copy paste the complete line.

<PathOnYourPC>\20.0.1132.47_chrome_installer.exe --ignore-certificate-errors --allow-running-insecure-content

5) Now open Chrome browser from this newly created shortcut. Go to 'Settings'

6) Click on 'Extensions' on the left side. Click on 'Developer mode' , then click on 'Load unpacked extension' and give path to extracted APK Downloader folder and you will see uploaded APK Downloader extension in your browser.

7) Now click on 'Options'. You might see 'Options.html' against 'background.html'. You will see following page.

 8) Now run 'Device ID' app on your device and get device ID.

However, if you don't have this application, type '*#*#8255#*#*' without quotes on your phone and against 'Device Id', you will find 'android-<device id>'. Only <device id> part is your device ID.

Enter this information on that page and you will see following page.

9) After being logged into above page, search any application on Google Play even if it's not compatible with your device. 

When you go to application page, you will see download icon against browser URL as shown below.  Click on it and application will be downloaded.

10) Rename this downloaded file from 'Download' to '<appName>.apk'

Troubleshooting

1) After making these changes, I was still not able to download APK files. It was giving me error "ERROR: - Please disable SSL error warnings" and I was not sure what I was doing wrong. Before this error and troubleshooting, I was getting error like 'Error: file can't be downloaded'.


Also, when I clicked on 'Shortcut of Chrome' we created in step 4, it was not opening chrome browser. So I did following two things before I was able to open the browser and download APK.

i) Follow the given link and make required changes to registry. I actually deleted all the keys

Make changes to Registry Keys

ii)  Check if you can delete 'Application' folder given at 'C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\'.

You might not see 'AppData' folder in <UserName> folder. Enable viewing of hidden folders. Press 'Alt' key on your keyboard, Go to Tools => Folder Options => View => Show hidden files ...

If you are not able to delete this 'Application' folder, follow the below given steps.

Restart your computer and keep pressing F8 key on your keyboard to enter into Safe Mode. Once you are logged in Safe Mode, go to above given folder again. If you are not able to find Application folder there, just create a new folder with the same name. I also deleted contents of Update folder inside the Chrome folder, just in case if it creates some problem.

7) Now just make sure your step 5 is working fine. That means, you are logged in with your username, password and device ID. Now try to download APK again.

Hope everything works fine at your computer too. =)



Due credit to following links for the help.

http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/
forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1260350
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1809458



If you like my post, and want to say thanks, you can get me a coffee. =)