In this guide, you will learn how to open APK files on Windows 10, 8 and 7, in order to have all the information on what that file contains and to know if the application is safe before installing it on our phone.
If you have a phone with Android operating system, surely you have heard of APK files, it is also possible that on more than one occasion you have downloaded or installed an app on your mobile phone thanks to the APK file.
The truth is that all applications for Android devices are distributed as APK files, however, when you download and install an application from the Google Play Store, the file from the store is automatically downloaded and installed.
These change when you download an app for our Android phone or tablet from any other site other than the Play Store, for example, the official website of an app that is not available in the Google app store or from another app. Alternative sites where you can also go and download Android apps for free.
The APK file format is a type of compressed file that collects all the code, images and media necessary to be executed on our devices, which means that, at first glance, you cannot know very well if what you have downloaded is really the app or game you were looking for.
When you press on an APK file from your mobile phone, it will automatically proceed with its installation, so you will not know what it actually is until it has been completely installed.
This can be a great risk for our mobile phone or tablet if the download is not carried out from a completely reliable site, therefore, you can download the APK file of an app or game on our windows PC, before installing it on our mobile, and try opening it to get the information to check if what you are going to install on the phone is safe.
Fortunately, there are some free programs that allow us to open APK files on Windows 10.
How to open APK files on Windows 10, 8 and 7
One such program is APK-info, which, as its name suggests, was developed to offer users information about APK files.
In this way, you will be able to know the name of the application or game that is actually present inside it, the version, the name of the package, the size, and resolution of the optimized screens, the permissions to be accepted, its operation, etc.
It is free software since it is an open-source application available on Github. Once downloaded, installed on the computer and started, you will see that a Windows 10 browser window will open from where you could select the path where you saved the APK file.
When you select it, a window will appear where you will see all the information related to the APK file.
If what you want is to open APK files to unzip the application or game package and then be able to analyze each of the files it contains, then you can use 7Zip. Yes, in addition to the differences in the extension, APK files behave as if they were zip, so 7Zip can export its contents without problems.
