With new Android devices launching every month, keeping your app compatible across them all can feel impossible.
Android dominates the market with over 71% share, meaning your APK must perform flawlessly across countless screen sizes, OS versions, and hardware setups.
Building and maintaining an in-house device lab is costly and time-consuming—but there’s a smarter way. You can now run and test APKs online directly in your browser, saving hours of setup while ensuring full Android coverage. This article explains how to do it.
How to Open APK Files in a Browser
Change the extension to .zip and unzip it to uncompress the file. Then you can open the file. You can also use a unzip tool to extract the files and folders compressed inside an APK file.
Once you open the APK file, you can view all its contents. All Android files have the same core structure. Here are the common files and folders in an APK file:
- AndroidManifest.xml
- META-INF/
- classes.dex
- res/
- lib/
- assets/
- resources.arsc
Apart from opening an APK file, installing an APK file is also simple depending on the Android version of your device.
To ensure smooth APK testing and compatibility, expert advice can guide you through the best tools and practices.
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How to Run APK Files in a Browser
With the advent of remote testing in the agile world, cloud-based software testing platforms have emerged as an ideal solution for meeting test requirements.
BrowserStack is one such testing platform that provides teams and individuals with a comprehensive infrastructure for hassle-free remote testing. One can instantly upload and run APK files online on the desired Android devices using its real device cloud.
The APK file is installed on a real Android device that is hosted in a secure cloud environment. This means that users can evaluate the performance of their Android app in real user conditions and debug faster.
One can test their APK file on real handsets from popular vendors like Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, Pixel, etc. Moreover, they don’t need to worry about any complex setup or configurations. Simply Sign up > Upload APK file > Choose the desired Android handset> Start testing.
Steps to Run APK Online in a Browser
Follow the steps below to run APK online:
1. Signup for a free trial for Browserstack App Live.
2. Once the App Live dashboard opens up, click on the Upload button available near the Uploaded Apps section and upload the APK file to be tested.
3. Select the desired Android handset to test the app on. (Let’s consider testing on Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra in this example). Refer to the image below for more clarity on the process.
4. This will initiate a new App Live session on the desired handset.
5. The selected APK file is downloaded and installed on the chosen device once the session begins.
6. Start testing the app’s features and functions.
That’s how easily one can run an APK file online on a real Android device directly through a web browser.
Try Testing on Real Android Devices for Free
Why use BrowserStack App Live to Run APK Files in a Browser?
BrowserStack App Live offers you to test your mobile application online by running APK Files in a browser. You can test on real Android devices with the help of BrowserStack’s real device cloud without any setup required.
- Device rotation to view the app’s appearance in Portrait and Landscape mode.
- Geolocation Testing to test an app’s performance when accessed from different geographic locations.
- Network throttler to simulate poor network conditions.
- Capturing screenshots.
- Viewing Open Apps running in the background.
- Change Language feature to test apps in different languages.
Refer to the complete list of BrowserStack App Live’s features
Conclusion
Constant proliferation of the latest Android devices with distinct hardware configurations has introduced testing challenges for software teams. Device Fragmentation has been a major challenge. Teams constantly need to keep track of the newly launched handsets and acquire them for testing and optimizing purposes. This process can prove to be tedious and inefficient in the long run.
Using online APK runners like BrowserStack that offers a real device cloud with the latest devices helps teams to purely focus on their app testing efforts. Moreover, as the device cloud is updated regularly, teams get exclusive access to the latest handsets for instant testing.
All the APK tests are conducted on real devices, and it helps obtain accurate test results every time without any complex configurations. Signup for free to get started today!
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