Murtaza Hashwani - What Is an APK File and What Does It Do?

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What Is an APK File and What Does It Do?

Murtaza Hashwani

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It’s basically an “app installer” for Android. Like a .deb or .rpm or so on Linux, .msi (or sometimes .exe) on Windows, a .dmg on macOS.

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I just love it when people ask questions that Ive been wanting to ask but don’t want to be known as the village idiot😋.

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To add a bit more:
APK stands for Android package kit, which is how the android operating system recognises the raw and packaged materials to be used to be able to operate some functionality, just like you use a browser to browse the net, like how you ended up here to ask this question.
The windows has similar exe file (executable), etc.
Cheers. :slight_smile:

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Took my words away. Lols

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Thank you for the replies, and thanks especially to the questionner. APK is one of those terms that are banded about on the assumption that everybody knows what they are. I didn’t until now.

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This is such a set of “paper” with letters and pictures that the operating system reads and reproduces what has been read on the screen. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thanks, but unfortunately the Wiki description is as clear as mud. It adds nothing to my understanding because it substitutes other unknown terms like metadata and manifest file in place of the first. The earlier explanation of an app installer on the other hand tells me what an AKP is.

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It’s crystal clear.

A package format is a type of archive containing computer programs

Packages may contain either source code or executable files.

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I think it’s a technical term, not supposed to be known even by people who’ve installed apps from play store all their life. You’re not a village idiot :slight_smile:

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If You rename .apk archive to a .zip archive, you can see how it looks.

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