{"id":18193,"date":"2026-06-22T06:47:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T05:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovatenews.site\/index.php\/2026\/06\/22\/sideloading-android-apps-is-great-until-you-have-to-update-them-heres-my-fix\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T06:47:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T05:47:38","slug":"sideloading-android-apps-is-great-until-you-have-to-update-them-heres-my-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovatenews.site\/index.php\/2026\/06\/22\/sideloading-android-apps-is-great-until-you-have-to-update-them-heres-my-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"Sideloading Android apps is great \u2014 until you have to update them. Here\u2019s my fix"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The topic Sideloading Android apps is great \u2014 until you have to update them. Here\u2019s my fix<\/strong> is currently the subject of lively discussion \u2014 readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.<\/p>\n

This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies\u2019 decisions and competitors\u2019 reactions can quickly change the picture.<\/p>\n

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.<\/p>\n

The Google Play Store is home to millions of Android apps across numerous categories, enough to cater to the needs of an average Android user. However, you\u2019d be surprised to know that some of the best Android apps are missing from the Play Store.<\/p>\n

You can find many of these apps on alternative app stores or code repositories like GitHub. Some of the apps are also available on the developer\u2019s own websites. While downloading and installing such apps on your Android phone isn\u2019t hard, keeping them updated is a chore. If you\u2019re like me and have many non-Play Store apps installed on your Android phone, you\u2019d know what I\u2019m talking about.<\/p>\n

This is where Obtainium comes in. Obtainium is a free and open-source sideload manager that simplifies updating non-Play Store apps on Android. I\u2019ve been using the Obtainium app on my Android phones for a while, and it has made my life so much easier.<\/p>\n

Depending on where you sideloaded an app on your Android phone from, you have a few ways to update it. If the app is from an alternative app store like F-Droid, you can update it in the same way you\u2019d update an app downloaded from the Play Store. However, if you downloaded it from code repositories such as GitHub and GitLab, mirror sites such as IzzyOnDroid, or the developer\u2019s website, the workflow is quite tedious.<\/p>\n

First, you need to check for a new version of the app, which typically involves visiting the source (usually a web page), navigating multiple menus, and looking for an updated APK file. Then, if a new one\u2019s available, you need to download the APK and install it. What\u2019s annoying about this approach, though, is that you need to do it for every single non-Play Store app installed on your phone. Not to mention, you need to regularly check your sideloaded apps for new updates, which is a task in itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Obtainium takes most of the steps out of this process. All it requires is a one-time setup that involves adding sources for the sideloaded apps on your phone to the tracking list. Once done, Obtainium runs in the background and monitors these sources to check for new versions. When a new app update is available, Obtainium sends you a notification, so you can jump in and install it. Some of the Android apps support auto-updating, too. Obtainium automatically installs the latest updates for such apps in the background without requiring any intervention.<\/p>\n

As of writing this, Obtainium supports the following sources:<\/p>\n

Obtainium is easy to set up and use. First, head to the Obtainium website, scroll down, and hit the Download Universal APK button to download the latest APK file. Then, tap the file and, when prompted, allow the app (through which you downloaded the file) to install apps. Tap Install.<\/p>\n

Once Obtainium is installed, the next step is to add the apps you want to track for new updates. To do this:<\/p>\n

While adding an app to Obtainium, it\u2019s important to get the source right. for example, if you installed an app via F-Droid, you must use its F-Droid link to update it too. If you try updating it via its GitHub, Obtainium won\u2019t work. This is because even though both versions of the app have the same name and package ID, they have different digital signatures. As a result, Android identifies the mismatch and prevents Obtainium from updating the app.<\/p>\n

When you paste a webpage URL, it presents you with a bunch of options on the screen. For instance, if the source is GitHub, you\u2019d see the Verify the latest tag option, which tells Obtainium to strictly look for the update with the \u201clatest\u201d tag. This helps ensure you always get the latest public update, and all other releases, such as beta, alpha, or nightly, are ignored. Similarly, there\u2019s the Include prereleases\u00a0option, which you can toggle on if you\u2019re testing an app\u2019s pre-release version.<\/p>\n

Other options include Track-only, which checks for a new update\u00a0without downloading or installing it, and\u00a0RegEx filtering, which lets you filter release titles and notes to find specific update releases. The best part is that these options are source-specific, so you can configure them differently for each app, which is especially useful since not all apps use similar release naming schemes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re feeling lazy or overwhelmed with so many configuration options, Obtainium\u2019s crowdsourced app configurations can help. Put simply, these are app configurations contributed by the Obtainium community to help you quickly add hard-to-configure apps on Obtainium. Go to the Complex Obtainium Apps webpage, find the app you want to add to the list, and tap the Add to Obtainium to directly add it to Obtainium. You may sometimes need to tap the Install button to install the app and add it to Obtainium.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve added an app, you\u2019ll be taken to the Apps tab, and you\u2019ll see the app you just added here. Repeat the above steps to add all your other non-Play Store apps to Obtainium.<\/p>\n

After you add your apps, Obtainium will check for available updates every six hours. (You can configure this interval as per your needs.) If an update is available, it will automatically download and install it on your phone, unless you\u2019ve enabled the Track-only option for its source.<\/p>\n

That said, auto-update doesn\u2019t work for some apps. In such a case, Obtainium only checks for a new version and sends a notification when available. You can tap the notification, which takes you to the Apps tab, and hit the download icon next to the app with a new update to update it manually.<\/p>\n

After you\u2019ve added the apps, you should also consider configuring some of the Obtainium settings to your preference. You\u2019ll find these settings on the Settings tab in the app. On my phone, I\u2019ve configured the background update check interval and enabled the Check for updates on startup, Allow parallel downloads, and Pin updates to top of apps view options.<\/p>\n

While Obtainium greatly simplifies updating sideloaded apps on Android phones, it has a few limitations that may bother you at times. for example, it falls back to HTML scraping on websites that don\u2019t offer an API to check for a newer version of the app. This means if a website\u2019s code changes, Obtainium stops working. I haven\u2019t run into this issue in my use, though.<\/p>\n

Then, if you have too many GitHub apps installed on your phone, you may frequently hit unauthenticated API rate limits when you try updating them through Obtainium. Thankfully, you can avoid this by providing your GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT). You can check out GitHub Docs to learn more about PAT, including how to set it up.<\/p>\n

Lastly, Obtainium has a read-only limitation on certain sites, such as APKMirror. This means Obtainium can track them to look for new updates, but it can\u2019t download and install them. It will send you a notification when an update is available, though, so you can update the app manually.<\/p>\n

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0Comment Policy before posting.<\/p>\n