Want to know what are the free app stores for Android? We use app stores for downloading apps into our Android. As you know Android comes with the Google Play Store. There’s no doubt that Google Play Store is awesome. It has too many apps. But some required apps may not found in that Google Play Store. So you need an alternative app store for downloading apps.
Some premium apps won’t available in the Play Store. And some app stores provide fewer ads with apps when compared to other store apps. If you don’t find your app in the play store then you can go with any one of the top 5 List of Free App Stores for Android.
Free App Stores For Android
1. Aptoide
Aptoid is an amazing Alternative to Google Play Store, not available on Google Play Store is its rival. You can still download it as an apk and easily install it. It has over a million apps available currently, placing it second after Google Play Store which has about 3.7 million apps on it. But it is still better than Google Play Store considering these factors.
i) It has some amazing apps that are not available on Google Play Store but can be really useful. ( NOTE – For People thinking these apps must be illegal, not necessarily they can also be removed from Play Store due to violation of some Play Stores policy, not a violation of law)
ii) It also has some apps that charge money on the Play Store available for free. ( NOTE – We don’t support/promote downloading paid apps unethically. This is for educational purposes only )
- Read: Full Aptoide Review
CONS – Any Developer being completely free to post any app of their choice on this marketplace makes it vulnerable to illegal apps and apps containing malware. Which may potentially harm your device.
VERDICT – Aptoide almost has all the apps that Play Store does but lacks the uncommon and infamous ones. I would still recommend downloading this on your Android device.
2). Amazon App Store
Amazon App Store was Initially launched in 2011, this marketplace gives a tough competition to Google Play Store. It is one of the best Free app stores for Android. This app comes preinstalled on Amazon devices like Kindle. This Market has only about 600,000 apps but beats play store giving a number of additional features –
i) This app has got a free app of the day with which you can get a paid app for free every day. Amazon claims to give more than $25,000 of apps and games for free.
ii) Sometimes on some app’s thumbnail, you can see an ‘ actually free ‘ banner which gives the app for completely free ( including in app purchases ). For demonstration, this game here cost $41.15 on Play Store ( including in app purchases ) but Amazon is offering it for completely free ( NOTE – Free apps are available only in United States, France, England and Germany Only)
CONS –
i) It is a huge problem for small developers to push out updates and bug fixes to all marketplaces their app is on and many of them prefer Play Store over Amazon Underground ( AppStore ). So you might have to wait long for an update if this is your primary choice.
ii) Though giving out free content is an attractive feature. Play Store Beats the Amazon Appstore, besides giving more apps, Play Store also offers Books, Movies, and Songs, while Amazon Underground just links to Amazon Video store, content of which can be only streamed by Amazon Prime members.
VERDICT– Though Google Play Store wins, in this case, I would recommend you to keep both apps installed on your device and use pro sides of both.
3). Opera App Store
It is the most efficient online AppStore and that’s also the only reason why it made it to this list. Initially Released on 8 March 2011 this online marketplace is not only available on Android but on iOS, Java Symbian OS, BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile. Available in over 30 languages. Opera Appstore also has a pretty decent collection of apps, some of which are not even on Play store. But the things that make it stand out are –
i) Applications are approved by the Opera Mobile Store team for basic reliability testing on all the platforms and devices declared by the developer in the submission process, unlike Aptoide. Which is a good thing as it means that anyone can upload anything but it’s been checked
ii) Every year Opera Mobile Store also runs Top Apps Awards. These awards recognize the best apps in the Opera Mobile Store across multiple categories based on popular user voting which can really help you in finding a gem.
CONS –
i). Due to it being an online app market, there is no app available for it except it being integrated into Opera’s browser. That makes it hard for users to download apps due to lack of ease
ii). Almost all the apps that Opera offers are common and can be found on Play Store.
VERDICT – Being a website and not actually an app, you might like to check Opera App Store in a while.
4). AppBrain
If you want premium apps for free, this is where you need to go. Unlike Aptoide you can get these apps ethically and legally. Developers, every now and then make their app free and AppBrain promotes the free app. You can download the app and sign up to Download the app directly from AppBrain or you can simply download the app, not sign up and be clicking on any app will redirect you to the same apps Google Play Store Page.
i ) You can get free apps every now and then. That too legally and completely ethically.
ii ) You are not forced to signup to download apps.
CONS –
i) App Brain technically isn’t a full fledged app store but just an app that shows you some apps that you can get for free. Though it has other apps it doesn’t have any unique apps that aren’t available on the Play Store.
VERDICT – Again, you would like to keep this app on your phone alongside Playstore to get a free app here and there.
5). F – Droid
F-Droid was Initially Launched on 29 September 2010, F-Droid is not your average app store. It only has about 3,000 apps available right now but the reasons why it was able to make it to the list are –
i) All the apps available are completely free. And by completely, I mean completely. There are no in app purchases or anything like that. There are even some apps which were not able to pass the Play Store guidelines and ended up being F – Droid exclusive. No one knows when you may stumble upon a gem.
ii) All the apps, besides being free are also Open Source and by that I mean the source code of all these apps is available to the public to use and modify. You may find a link to the source code while downloading any application.
Also, the way of downloading apps is a little different. The easiest method is to download the F-Droid app and click an app link and it will start downloading straight away. Or you can download the whole repository.
That wraps it up for this list. Hope you enjoyed it. Make sure to comment on any other alternatives you know below.
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