Yes, you can backup apps on your Android device! This method is simple, quick, and, most importantly, it does not require you to have a rooted device. Before we get started, here are some of the reasons why you may want to backup an Android app as an APK file on your device.
Reasons why you may want to backup an Android app on your device:
1. You love the app and want to back it up in case it is no longer available via the Android Market
2. You want to install an app on a device without the Android Market
3. You are going to be rooting your device or installing a new ROM and you want to have all your apps backed up so you can reinstall them easily
4. A new version of the app has been released and you are unsure whether you will like the new version. So you backup the existing one before installing the new one
5. You want to share an app with a friend who does not have access to the Android Market
6. You want to share an app with someone in a different country who may not have access to certain apps due to country restrictions
7. I’m sure there are several other reasons! Feel free to share them in the comments section below.
Step-by-step Instructions:
1. Go to your Android Market, search for and install the app “File Expert” [Market Link]
2. Open the “File Expert” app
3. Click on the top right “App” tab
4. Simply click the checkmark box on the app that you want to backup as an APK file
5. Click on the “Backup” button located on the bottom left
6. All the APK files of the apps you selected will now be saved and located in the “backup_apps” folder located in the root of your SD card.
That’s it! You can now do whatever you’d like with the APK backup files of the Android App. Just make sure you don’t share the apps with the whole world! That would be pirating and it hurts the whole Android community when people steal apps. These instructions are strictly for personal use and for educational purposes only. Enjoy!
John A
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nice quick tip, thx
thanks wow! now I will copy all paid apps and share with every one
Can you send them to me
I am replacing a HTC senseation with a new one. I was able to get
my apps. off the old phone to the SD card, installed File Export to the new phone and can’t find where the phone put the file but when I find the file how do I to transfer the apps. from SD to new phone. T-mobile tells me that the only way to do it is to reinstall each App. 1 by 1, yech!!!!
Thank you
No problem! Just use the instructions above to back up your apps and then reinstall the File Expert app. Then navigate to the SD Card and reinstall the apps on the new phone.
How can I backup up all of my apps (100 plus!) in the event that I may need to perform a factory reset. Can I copy them to a PC or external drive for safekeeping?
Luckily, you don’t really need to do that anymore. Google keeps track of the apps that you have purchased via your Google Account. So when you restore your device or purchase a new one, all of your purchased apps will appear in the “My Apps” section of the Android Market. You may just have to click install if they don’t automatically re-install on their own.
But if you really feel like you want a total “backup” of all your apps. You could try this app called “MyBackup Pro”. It is very popular and should work well. Here is the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rerware.android.MyBackupPro
Many thanks for the helpful info. It’s good to know that all of my apps are still in a queue at Google Play – very useful. However, it would still be useful to keep a copy of the apps on my PC, or a drive, so that if necessary they can be dragged and dropped on to a new SD card – rather than re install so many apps one at a time.
I have a copy of MyBackupPro but I believe that it backs up on to the device’s SD card and as my SD card is relatively small I shall need to replace it with a much larger one and then somehow copy the contents of my card on to the new one. Is that fairly simple to perform?
Not always. I pulled an FDR on my phone recently (after trusting my backup to My Backup Pro and getting screwed; guess you can’t trust everything you read on the Internet); and more than a few of my old apps failed to return. I don’t even see them under My Account on Google Play (Android Market was such a better term for it); but I know I downloaded them and used them. And even some of the apps Google understands I downloaded nevertheless failed to reload onto the phone.
Thx!!
Buy a app
back up it
delete the installed app
you get your money back!
install the backup file
Not cool man, that’s how you destroy a bussiness and stop enjoying quality updates or new development. Remember that you are not deceiving Google but the programmers who worked to get some money to pay the bills.
Be cool, be honest.
That’s a dumb proposition. Any developer worth a penny will protect his or her app with a license so copying the APK file will get you nowhere. It’s the license that counts.
I’ve looking for a way to ask a question so i’ll try this way!!!
I have a new 32 GB SD card, my tablet sees it but keeps telling me that I don’t have enough space. I can’t seem to put some games that is larger then 3 or 4 mb anything larger is says not enough space or
theres a filter that won’t allow the download??? is there a way to use the space on my SD card to place these games or other apps??
Hi Greg. Maybe your new SD card is not formatted properly? Click on the MENU button -> SETTINGS -> SD & Storage. See if it lists your SD card there. Also make sure that the SD card is MOUNTED. Hope that points you in the right direction.
will converting the app to .apk file keep my game data and use it again after I re-install?
I don’t believe it will!
Thanks for this tip – exactly what I was after to back up my apps.
You’re welcome! Thanks for visiting the site. Hope you find our other articles helpful as well!
I own two androids gadgetds:
1. a Google Nexus S
2. a Ainol Aurora II
I own a paid version of Tunein Radio and I would install it on ainol aurora II. Unfortunatelly Google Play shows Tunein Radio as incompatible
So I can’t download it by GPlay
I followed the suggested steps and unfortunatelly it didn’t work.
Worked for other apps, but not for Tunein Radio.
Do you have any suggestion?
Hey John!
Thank you so much for sharing this. It is much easier than the complicated processes listed all over the internet.
Hey John!
Great post! Very simple and easy way to get .apk file from installed application. Much better from everything, that I red all over the Internet.
I’m also Android developer (mainly J2EE), and you can see a video of my game Flexible Tetris in YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLaEcqz3VGs
Cheers!
Alex
Cheers John
Awesome tip, and just what I needed.
I bought a tablet for my little girl for Xmas and it has a really bad app store, so thanks from me and Eve
Now I just need to knock up a little web app for my phone, so she can download the APKs directly over wifi. You’ve given me a fantastic excuse to spend a weekend hacking.
All the best.
Thanks Carl!
I hope your little girl enjoys that new Tablet! Best of luck and let us know if you need help with anything else! Hope the other articles on the website are just as helpful to you.
hi john if i want to save a game apk like gta, and the whole data so i can just restore without download it again; Mybackup pro will help?
I tried it with Plague Inc. and it didn’t restore my saved data, so be careful.
Thank you John for your excellent guide. I followed your steps in copying a paid-app apk from my TF101G to a china-made Android mini pc, successfully. Really helpful.
Thanks for the helpful information. I was able to back the apps I wanted easily in minutes….keep up the good work…
No problem! Thanks for visiting the website. Hope you find the other lessons here to be just as helpful!
Hi,
is there any way to backup my applications with their settings? In other words can i restore my installed apps with their current configuration?
I would like to back up some apps so I can safely delete them and save space on my sd card. Is this an ok plan?