How to update Android apps on a PC

by antonio

Google Play Store is the official store for all Android devices. If we take into account that Android is the most widely used operating system (OS) by the manufacturers of Smartphones and Tablets, we can understand that this is one of the OS with the most applications. Especially since Google owns both the Play Store and Android, so the amount of multimedia content they offer only grows day after day.

Sometimes, both multimedia content available to choose from and download from the palm of your hand can be a real headache. It would be better if someone devised how to manage all this content from the comfort of a computer or laptop… wait a minute! In fact, there are already methods to update Android apps on a PC!

Official method: Google Play Store extension for Chrome

This first method not only serves to update our applications from your computer,but also allows you to download from scratch all the multimedia content that the Google store has to offer. It doesn’t matter if it’s free, paid or trial content. All this can be done easily by simply downloading the Google Play Store extension for the Google Chrome browser.

play store on PC

To implement this method, simply follow the instructions below:

  1. Open the Google Chrome web browser on your PC(download it here if you don’t already have it).
  2. In the top right of the browser press the “Log“, and start with the same Google account that you use on your Android devices.
  3. To the left of the “Login” (where your profile picture now appears) you will find the “Google apps” (a square symbol based on points). Click there to display the app menu and click on “Play” (if it doesn’t appear to you is that you must first download it)
  4. You are already within Google Play Store in its official version for PC. From there you can access all the content that this store has to offer, and everything you acquire or update will automatically apply to your Android devices, as they will be linked by using the same Google account.

NOTE: The media you purchase from your Android devices will also appear ready to download to your PC’s desktop. However, most Apps and video games are designed to run on the Android operating system, but not on a computer’s OS.

Unofficial method: APK file management

I’m sure you already knew or heard something about the files in . RAR or . ZIPfiles, which are among the most famous for managing multimedia content on computer operating systems such as Windows. Well, in the same way; Android OS has its own format for processing your apps,games and so on. This is the format. APK, which has been like the source code or the seed of all the multimedia contents that we can install on a Smartphone or Tablet with Android.

To clarify, whenever we download an App from the Play Store; we’re downloading an APK file. But it turns out that these files can be downloaded by sources outside the Google store. The appeal of the matter is that these downloads can be done from the comfort of a keyboard, a mouse and the large screen of a computer.

android apk files on pc

Below you will find the steps to download APK files and updates to your computer:

  1. Select the source from which you want to download the APK files of the Apps you are looking for. In Uptonic.info we recommend trying one of these 3: Raccoon, Uptodown or our favorite; APKMirror.
  2. Unlike the other two options, Raccoon is an App for Windows, Mac and Linux. So to use it you must first download it from its official website. Follow the steps for installation and you’ll have access to a screen with a search engine to find the APK files of the Android apps you want to manage.
  3. Uptodown and APKMirror are not the only ones to manage APK files, there are many others; but these have earned a reputation for being the most complete, safe and reliable. Both have a search bar that will allow you to find the APK files that you want to install on your Android devices.
  4. Regardless of which option you choose, when you search for an App you will see several versions to download. For example, if you search for WhatsApp in APKMirror you will see a list of dozens of old versions and even beta versions that are not yet available in the Play Store.
  5. After you have downloaded all the APK files of the apps and games in the most current versions possible, the next thing will be to connect your Android device to the PC to pass all that content.
  6. Before you can install any APKs on your device, you must enable the installation of apps that don’t come from the Play Store. To do this, you need to follow the following path: Settings – Security – Unknown sources – Activate.
  7. Finally, find the folder where you stored the APKs, open them, and accept the installation permissions. For some apps, the device will restart during or after installation.

NOTE: The grace of this update method is that APK files can be downloaded more easily from a computer. In addition, in this way we can access versions that are not yet available in the Play Store; or that stopped being managed automatically on a given device because of its age.

Alternative method: Installing an Android Emulator for PC

Currently there are various programs to emulate the Android operating system on a Windows PC. The main problem with this is that running one operating system inside another places a heavy burden on a computer’s hardware, especially if it is low-resource.

android emulator for pc

However, if you have a good PC you can download and install one of these emulators to enjoy all the multimedia contents that you have on your Android device. The most famous may be BlueStacks,although we can recommend others like NoxPlayer, Remix OS Player, MeMu and the official Google emulator: Android Studio.

Even for those who don’t have a Smartphone or Tablet, emulators are an excellent option not to miss out on any Android multimedia content. Although the best thing is that practically all emulators are able to manage Google accounts to log in with the same account of your devices, being able to record your progress in video games or even your cell number to access WhatsApp from the computer.

Regardless of which emulator you decide to try, the steps to update Android apps on a PC are perfectly the same as those needed to do it from your mobile; except for small differences in the interface designs of each emulator. Here we remind you:

Update apps automatically:

  1. Enter the Google Play Store from the main screen of the emulator.
  2. Unfold the MEnúpanel, tap Tojustes, and then tap Automatically update apps.
  3. Finally, select one of the options that appear to you; Either you want to Update Apps Automatically over Wi-Fi only,or if you have no problems using your data you can choose Automatically update Apps at any time.

manage android updates on pc

Automatically update specific applications:

  1. Enter the Google Play Store from the main screen of the emulator.
  2. Deploy the panel Menú, tap on My apps and games and select the App or game you want to set up to update automatically.
  3. Tap on More to finally enable the Automatically update option.

Manually update applications:

  1. Enter the Google Play Store from the main screen of the emulator.
  2. Deploy the panel Menú, tap on My apps and games and select the App or game you want to update manually.
  3. Apps that have an update available will have the“Update”button. If you prefer, you can download pending updates of all Apps by clicking on“Update All”.

NOTE: Updating some apps involves restarting the device, in this case it would close and open the emulator. In addition, other Apps require user permissions to update, so they’ll send you a notification that you’ll need to accept.

 

To finish with our guide on how to update Android applications on a PC,we advise you to use only the websites and emulators that we recommend here, giving priority to start with the official method.