Since the inception of Android smartphones in our lives, apps have become an inseparable part of it. From zero to the zenith, the fact can’t be denied that apps have simplified our routine job to a great extent. Dozens of apps are available for a single task and there’s an army of app stores which make these apps available. Particularly for Android devices, apart from Google play store, there are oodles of third-party app stores like Appvn that gives us even those apps that’s officially unavailable.
We all are well aware of the term app that stands for Application but only a few of us know about Apk. Most of us assume that both are the same which is absolutely wrong. There’s a huge difference between an App and Apk which we’re going to explain in this piece today. Hence, to make a better choice between an App and Apk, it’s really necessary to understand the difference between the two.
What is an App?
It’s not the new term for us but yet many of us don’t know exactly what an app is? An app, which’s the short form of ‘Application’ is a software designed especially for the mobile platform. Before the advent of smart mobile operating systems like Android, people used to work on windows software to get things done in the simplest manner but later on technology has blessed us with mobile applications.
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Installing these applications on our mobile or tablet devices; we can easily manage our activities on the go. Shopping apps, banking apps, e-wallets etc. are some examples of such applications that we can install on our smartphones and enjoy the ease. In other words, apps are the revamped form of computer softwares, fits the mobile operating system.
What is an Apk?
Apk stands for Android Application Package, which’s a file format that supports Android OS only. Apk is the collection of various small files, source codes, icons, audios, videos etc. into one large file for the distribution purpose.
Each Apk file comes with a special key that can’t be used by another apk file. Upon downloading an apk file on mobile phones, the installer unpacks all the files to get it installed as an app on your Android devices.
How are App and Apk different?
App and Apk are two different concepts in spite of the fact that they’re similar in their functionality. An application is a mini software that can be installed on any platform whether it be Android, Windows or iOS whereas Apk files can be installed only on Android systems. Applications directly install on any device however, Apk files have to be installed as an app after downloading it from any reliable source.
In order to install an App from an app store or Google play store, one needs to sign up there, while in case of Apk it’s easy to download them from official web pages. In this way, it gets easy to install any app via downloading its apk file without having to sign in the app store.
Since apk is sourced from outside Google play store, it can’t be installed without enabling unknown sources from your Android phone settings. In addition to this, Android users have to be careful before downloading apk files from untrusted websites as it may cause damage to their devices and the data store within it. So, App and apk both serve the same purpose but in a different manner.
Conclusion
Today, the major share of the global population is using smartphones and other tech gadgets to get done hours of work in just a few minutes. Where smartphones and apps have become such an integral part of our life, it’s thus important to know some basic terminology to reap the best out of them.People often get confused between App and apk, which are totally different. For this reason, we’ve explained the difference between the two for our readers in this content. We hope now you’re able to understand that application and apk both are not synonyms rather work in absence of each other. Do let us know, if we’ve missed something on our blog or for any more information.
