Best third-party app stores for Android

Top Google Play alternatives stores for apps and games

Google Play is the largest app store in the world. Day by day, the total number of apps and games is increasing in the Play Store platform. Google Play Store comes in built-in at any Android device. But there are plenty of app store alternatives to Google Play Store that have a sufficient number of games and apps. However, it is always best to use the apps from the Google Play Store as the security measurement of all the apps and games done by Google while any developer publishes any apps or games in the Google Play Store. The competition of third-party app stores with Google Play Store increasing day by day as many people prefer to use third-party stores for various reasons as well unlike iOS, anyone can easily download and install apps, and games from third-party app stores. In this article, we will discuss the top third-party app stores that you can use as an alternative option to Google Play Store. All of the app stores that we will list below are popular and safe to use.

F-Droid is one of the best alternatives to Google Play. It’s free and open-source. The main advantage of using the F-Droid is that it is completely free and you do not have to change any amount of fee for any apps and games. The store is mostly appreciated by the productivity and power users. For example, you will find the apps like Arch Linux package browser.  For this reason, it is the alternative option to use it instead of Google Play.

The major drawback of this platform is that the design of the platform is not user-friendly and needs to adjust many things from day-to-day uses. But once, you are adjusted to it, it will become hard for you to go back to this store. However, The F-Droid has a small collection of apps and games. Approximately, there are 4000 apps available in the F-Droid.

APK Mirror

Generally, APK Mirror is not considered a complete app store, it can be called an App repository or app library. It is the trusted app library. All kinds of apps are available in the APK Mirror such as Tweak apps, and beta apps that are not available in the Play Store. Along with these, you will find the older APK version of any apps in the APK Mirror which is not possible if you depend on the Google Play Store. The older APK is important if you use any older Android device that does not support the newer version of the app in the old Android version. The best thing about the APK Mirror is that it supports the file structure of PKs and the downloaded app does not create any issues after using some days.

Amazon App Store

Amazon app store is developed by the world’s largest e-commerce site brand Amazon. It is one of the top competitors of the Google Play Store. Amazon collaborates with Microsoft to make the Android app available in Windows 11. Amazon app store is pre-built in every Amazon Fire device and has all Amazon’s apps along with its popular Amazon Prime Video and other various apps. The Amazon app store provides a clean UI and gives a smooth experience. You will find all the downloaded apps under my apps, can filter the apps by latest, alphabetic order, and not install. The Amazon app store needs an Amazon account and you have to create and sign in using an Amazon account to download and install the apps from the Amazon app store. Currently, there are a total of 529, 746 apps available in the Amazon app store.

Samsung Galaxy Store

Samsung Galaxy store is developed and designed by the world’s largest Android smartphone manufacturer SAMSUNG like the Amazon app store. It’s built-in on every Samsung Android phone that creates the Galaxy store and is a good competitor of Google Play Store. One difference between the Samsung Galaxy store with the other 3rd party app stores is that APK apps are only available for Samsung users. All of the APKs are high-end and secure and Samsung ensures the security and does not allow the low-quality apps.

The UI is clean and simple. Besides, it has many popular apps and games like Microsoft, Netflix, Hulu, and Fortnite. But, the number of apps and games is not so much, even less than the Amazon app store but considering all factors, it is one of the best alternatives to Google Play Store.

AppBrain

AppBrain is not directly an app store rather it organizes the apps in a better way. AppBrain can be used along with almost every other store except for the Amazon app store, link with the network apps, and find out the recommendations, suggestions, update recommendations, app’s score, and number of downloads in a single place. It highlights the data that will help you to decide which apps are best for you and then you can download the apps as AppBrain works along with other network apps such as Google Play Store. You can download the AppBrain from the Google Play Store. In a simple word, all the apps that are present in the Google Play Store are also present in the AppBrain with detailed data.

Aurora Store

The gorgeous UI of the Aurora store will attract you to use it instead of the Google Play Store. The best two features of the Aurora store are the customized display option and not to track the download data. The Aurora store does not track any download of apps or games. Besides, for being open-source, many exclusive apps are so available that you will not find any other network. Download the apps from the Aurora store, no need for a Google account makes it one of the best competitors of the Google Play Store.

Another best thing is that if you are already using the F-Droid then you can use the Aurora Droid. AuroraDroid combines the repository of F-Droid having a great design of the aurora store.

Uptodown

Uptodown is another safe and popular option to download and install apps, and games since 2000. There are many software available in the uptodown that are not available in the Google Play Store such as regional apps, and beta apps. All the apps and games of the up[todown are freemium which means you do not have to pay for any apps and games. Besides, uptodown is linked with the Google Play Store and so, you do not have to worry about the updates. It does not require any sign-up and all the APKs that are listed in the uptodown are verified for safety along with app rating, comment, and download numbers. Along with these, uptodown provides one of the best-personalized experiences by providing updates, managing the device’s download/installed APKs, and app wishlist features.

Uptodown is one of the best places where the main purpose is to distribute the app in the most non-restrictive way. All of these reasons make Uptodown one of the best alternatives for the Google Play Store.

APKPure

APKPure is one of the most used and popular third-party stores. APKPure store includes many popular apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger, TikTok, PUBG, UC browser, etc. The UI of the store is clean and different categories with search options. There are more than 48,000 apps in APKPure that make its store one of the top highest competitors of the Google Play Store.

SlideMe

The last option that we have included here is the SlideMe which was found in 2008. You will get the both free and paid versions of the apps in the SlideMe store. The difference in this platform is that you can pay for apps using a PayPal or Amazon account. They have a team to ensure the security of every app that will be published in their store. The store is also child-friendly as they do not keep any adult, gambling, or illegal content apps in the store.

Conclusion

Every store mentioned above contains many features that may be not available in the Google Play Store. You also find many more app stores that you can use as an alternative option to Google Play Store. But before using any 3rd party app from any store, read their terms and policy, data collection policy, and above all privacy and security maintenance systems of that store.

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