[Guide] How to Sideload apps (APK files) on your Android 12 Smartphone or Tablet

Android phones are capable of installing apps outside of the Google Play Store. These come in the form of Android Package (APK) files that contain an individual app and can be installed on your phone if not available on the Google Play Store. A popular example of this is in the form of Fortnite on Android or loading an app that is not available in your regional Play Store. Today we will walk you through sideloading APK files on Android 12 devices, but this also works for Android 11.

Sideloading APK files on your Android 12

Opening Note: We recommend that you exercise caution when installing APK files. ONLY download and install files from a trusted source like APKMirror. These files can also act as a malicious delivery device that can install malware, spyware, or viruses if you download it from the wrong source.

The method of installing this file type changed as of Android 10 and works for Android 11 and 12 as well. Before this was a setting you would enable from the Settings app, but now it is something that only certain applications are capable of doing with the “install unknown apps” permission.

A few of the apps capable of installing APK files are:

• WhatsApp
• Telegram
• Google Drive
• Google Chrome

Long press any of the above-mentioned apps and look for the small icon at the top right of it shown below:

Scroll down until you find the Install unknown app. Tap on it and toggle Allow from this source to on.

You will now download the APK using that source. This means you can send yourself the file as a message in Telegram and WhatsApp and directly install them from the app, but be careful about opening APK's sent to you from other individuals. You can also upload the package to your Google Drive and install it from there if you want to send a file from your computer to your phone.

We will Google Chrome for this guide. Start by navigating to a site like APKMirror and download the file you need. Once you find the one you need, scroll down to see available downloads.

If you did everything right, you should be able to install the file without any trouble, and you will be prompted to Open the file after installation.

You may see the prompt, but if you're using a reliable site like APKMirror which is properly curated, you will have nothing to worry about.

Once downloaded, run the file from your downloads. Choose Install, wait for the installation to finish, then can you can Open the app.

Keep in mind that some apps will not be recognizable through the Google Play Store, and you will have to manually update the apps manually by downloading their newer versions from APKMirror or the site you acquired them from.