Is Aptoide safe? I tried Android's first alternative app store on Google Play - and it's a mess
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ZDNET's key takeaways
- There's a new app store found in the US Google Play Store.
- Aptoide Games is a limited version of the Aptoide app.
- Aptoide still has to be sideloaded.
This was the inevitable outcome Google dreaded: Thanks to an antitrust case it lost to Epic Games, the company was forced to open the Play Store to certified, third-party app stores. The first of these is Aptoide, a decentralized marketplace for Android apps that's been around for nearly 20 years.
Although the new market is slated to launch internationally, it is currently only available to install from the Google Play Store in the US, as that's the minimum Google must do to comply with the order. Outside of the US, users can side-load the Aptoide app.
Legality aside, what is Aptoide, and should you use it? I decided to test this third-party Android market again (I first tried it years ago) to see how well it worked and if it could be trusted.
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Here's my take.
What is Aptoide?
Hang on, this gets confusing. Let's break it down a bit:
- Google has added the Aptoide Games app on the Play Store, which only offers a very limited collection of games.
- The official Aptoide app, which can only be sideloaded, offers a vast array of software (both games and apps), but Google hasn't allowed it on the Play Store.
There's a picture being drawn here. It feels to me as though Google has sort of side-stepped the ruling by allowing a third-party app store on the Google Play Store, but what it has allowed can't even remotely compete with the Play Store.
For example, open the Aptoide Games app and go to the Categories section, where you'll only see two categories.
On the Aptoide app, you'll find considerably more categories, but even those are limited to games. In fact, if you sideload the official site, you'll find there is no "Apps" section. The only way to find non-game apps from Aptoide is to use the Search tool. So in both cases, you're limited.
On the other hand, if you go to the Aptoide website, you'll see an Apps section, where you can find all sorts of non-game apps. In fact, the Aptoide website has a bit of a Google Play Store feel. The app? Not so much. Yes, you can search for non-gaming apps in the app version of Aptoide, and whatever you're looking for will show up in the results (if it's available).
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Even when you go to the search tool, you'll find a list of popular searches, and (for me) it always lists games.
If you scroll down to the Trending section, you might run into non-game apps. In my case, I saw Android Developer Verifier, Ping VPN, bale by BTN, Phone Cleaner for Android, Pipl VPN… are you seeing the "trend"? More on that in a bit.
Essentially, both Aptoide and Aptoide Games are as easy to use as the Google Play Store. The difference is that Aptoide Games is very limited in what you can currently install. Both apps even offer an update section, and any app installed via the Google Play Store can be updated in the Aptoide app, but not in the Aptoide Games app.
Yep... confusing.
Is Aptoide safe?
This has to be addressed, and the answer is both simple and complicated:
It depends on what you install, but this is also the case on the Google Play Store.
Aptoide used to have a feature where any app scanned for malicious code displayed a green check mark indicating it was safe. That is no longer the case -- at least on the app. If you go to the website, you'll find small "trusted" badges for those apps that have been scanned and found free of malicious code.
There's another oddity. If you go to the Google Play Store and search for Aptoide, you'll be directed to the third-party app stores page, where you can install the Aptoide Games app (which is quite different than the Aptoide app). However, If you go to the Aptoide website, you can download the APK for the official Aptoide app and sideload it.
Search for a non-game app on the Aptoide Games app, and nothing comes up.
Clearly, Google doesn't want users downloading the full Aptoide app because that would directly compete with the Play Store on multiple fronts. In the end, the only version you can get from the Google Play Store lets you install games, and there aren't many games listed in this app. On top of that, even games available in Aptoide Games don't include the trusted badge.
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As with any third-party mobile app, it's crucial that you do your homework. Because Aptoide is decentralized, anyone can upload an app to the store, which means there most likely will be malicious code. Because of that, here's my recommendation (at least until Aptoide adds the trusted badges to the mobile app):
Only install apps from official sources.
For example, if you're installing Spotify, make sure the app you're looking at is from Spotify Ltd. If it's listed as created by someone else, do not install it.
Next, I did a search for AIO Launcher (one of my favorite apps). This is where things get a bit dicey. On Google Play Store, AIO Launcher is listed as developed by AIO Mobile Soft, but on Aptoide, it's listed as developed by Evgeny Zobnin. Let's dive into that.
If I go to the AIO Mobile Soft site, I see the email address zobnin@gmail.com. OK, that's a good sign. I then do a search for both AIO Mobile Soft and Evgeny Zobnin, and I find this Android Police article that links the two of them together. OK, if I can trust AIO Mobile Soft on Google Play Store, I can trust Evgeny Zobnin on Aptoide.
For Aptoide, it's best to take a "don't trust first" attitude and do your homework. If, after a bit of poking around, you find that the app is truly trustworthy, go ahead and install it.
This is critically important because you transmit so much sensitive data via your phone -- bank account information, passwords, social security numbers, etc. Installing a malicious app could transmit that information to a bad actor.
Hopefully, all of this will smooth out and become slightly less confusing over the coming months. I'd like to see two things happen (before I would regularly use Aptoide):
- The official Aptoide app on the Google Play Store
- Trusted badges ported to the mobile app
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To make that happen, Google would have to allow the official Aptoide app on the Google Play Store, and then Aptoide would have to port the trusted badges from the site to the app. Until those two things happen, I'm taking a very cautious approach to Aptoide. However, I am hopeful that this is a first step in a complicated process that could ultimately be a win for both developers and users worldwide.
Again, if you install either Aptoide Games or the Aptoide app, use them with caution.