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Olga Weis
Jan 23, 2023
APK files are installation files for the Android OS and contain the program itself and all the files it needs to function. We all know that APK files are useless for macOS and you won't be able to run them, however, in this article we will tell you how to open APK files on Mac with the help of archiver like Commander One, Android emulators and web extensions.
Despite the restrictions on the use of the extension, you can open APK files on Mac, Windows, other operating systems using an emulator – a program that creates a virtual machine of the Android system on the user's computer. The best examples of emulators are BlueStacks, Droid4X, and Genymotion.
Another program that allows you to run APK files on Mac and Windows computers which we will consider with you, will be ARC Welder. This application was developed by the notorious Google company. Its main feature is that in fact it is not an application at all, but an extension for the Google Chrome browser. This means that you do not have to download it and clutter your PC memory with unnecessary applications.
Besides that, you can open APK file on Mac, Windows or any other desktop operating system using the file extraction tool. There is a logical question – Why do you need to open APK file on Mac? The answer is simple – since APK files are just archives of several folders and files, you can view all the files of the installed application, and most importantly, make some edits to them.
You can unzip APK on Mac using a program like Commander One. An intuitive file manager that has combined lots of handy features and one of them is the ability to open APK on macOS as well as other popular archive formats.
With its help you can search through the archive without extracting it, compress any files into different archive formats, encrypt the archive to add extra protection measures, etc. check it out to see what else it can offer.
APK (Android Application) is the only extension for installing applications on the Android operating system. It is developed by Google to adapt custom software to smartphones. The APK file contains fully compiled and ready-to-install code. Since APK is not a cross-platform extension (there is no APK for Mac or Linux), it is only supported by Android, regardless of version and system modification. Files with this extension are stored in the official Google Play store.
The file itself has a clear structure and contains the following elements:
The user sees not the structure of the file, but only the final object, which is ready for installation. However, how to open.apk files on Mac and to look at the separate files (such as images, videos and XML files) in the archive? Continue reading to know several ways to open APK on Mac.
As mentioned earlier, all APK files are some kind of archives, and, therefore, they can be opened with a regular archiver. It is worth clarifying that while opening APK files with the help of the archiver you will still not be able to install and use the application that is stored in this archive. Therefore, this method is more suitable for those who want to open APK on Mac and get exactly to the contents of the archive. Here Commander One can come to rescue. However, if you want to run APK files on Mac – Android emulators or ARC Welder is exactly what you need.
