Follow These Security Checks Before Installing An Apk File

Majority of Android users probably will tell you that the best things about this operating system are the huge amount of control you can have with your device. Compared to Apple, Android lets you do a lot more things to your phone when it comes to installing applications while for iPhone users, the only way to install applications is through its App Store or by doing it illegally through Jailbreaking your iPhone to make it into an all-access mobile device.

However, Android lets its users either install the application through Google Play Store or by using a much wiser way through downloading an APK file via a computer. You can download paid applications for free and gain access from it, you can even download free apk games where you are not required to pay for any subscription or pay to unlock features.

However, there is one problem about APK files also comes with a huge amount of risk, considering that the developers creating APK files do not have the authority to develop applications by Google Play, where you might come across or end up with a harmful file on your phone or your mobile device which totally wrecks everything.

So, how can you really ensure yourself that the APK files that you are downloading are totally safe and will not harm your Android mobile device? Lucky for you, we have talked to several tech experts to tell us what the precautions are you should remember to prevent yourself from downloading a harmful APK file from the internet.

 There are actually ways of checking your APK files for safety and security. Hackers always make way to take advantage of free software that is offered to most Android users where they indiscriminately install virus or a malware on it and APK files are very vulnerable to this kind of threat considering that Google does not have any access to conduct security checks to it to tell if it is safe or not from viruses or any malicious software that is why following these safety precautions will ensure you that your Android mobile device is totally safe.

CHECK VIA VIRUS TOTAL

After downloading the APK file from the internet, one of the best ways to ensure that your APK file is safe is scan it to Virus Total website. This reliable site lets you conduct a security check if the APK file has any issues or not, or it may carry a virus. All you need to do is upload the APK file from your computer and let the site check it. However, the file should not be larger than 128-megabytes. However, most APK games are larger than 128mb files, but nevertheless, most files that are below the maximum capacity can be scanned in this website.

 CHECK THE HASH

By using Hash Droid, you can check your APK file by a phone application named Hash Droid, where it also performs security and safety check of your downloaded APK file by checking its hash. This is quite an important task to do considering that the SHA of any APK file is its digital fingerprint. By thoroughly checking the SHA, you can find out if the APK file’s fingerprint also corresponds to the application itself, otherwise, if it does not match, the APK file is not safe to install.