How To Install Incompatible Apps On Rooted Android

Ever faced any issue while installing apps on Android? Well, I've encountered issues and error several times. Sometimes you may have seen an error like, "Your device is not compatible with this version" or "this app is incompatible with your device" for some apps on Play store. And, this post is all about installing incompatible Android apps from the Google Play Store on my personal experience basis.

I love to install various apps and games on my Android smartphone. However, a few days back, I tried to install a specific app but failed to do so. And at that moment I was so frustrated and wondered why this happened. Why has play store shown the error message stating the app is incompatible with my device ? I wanted to know all the possible reasons and that that lead to extensive research.

Finally, I found the reason that android developers can restrict some of the apps to specific devices, countries and minimum version of android. I found three common situations in this matter.

Three Facts Behind Incompatible Android Apps

Country Restricted: some of the apps can only be downloaded in certain countries like some bank apps and Hulu plus app, which you cannot install outside the USA and India.

The Version Of The OS Of Your Device: if your device android version is too old to meet the requirements of the app system, the app may be incompatible.

Unsupported Device: some apps are only supported by specific devices.

So, If you are facing the same issues, then it does not mean that you cannot install your favorite apps on your smartphone. With this guide, I'm here to provide several solutions on how to install compatible apps on your smartphone on my personal experience basis.

However, please note one thing that all the provided solutions can work effectively with your device, but some apps are really made to be incompatible with your device.

Before Getting On With The Solutions, First, You Have To Bypass Your Device Restrictions.

Android device has a build .prop file which helps Play Store in identifying the model of your device. However, if you have a rooted device, then you can easily edit this to get rid of restrictions. This solution will allow you to install apps that are marked as compatible. You can use an android app called "Market Helper" to make the changes.

It is the more natural, faster and safer solution but always keeps in mind that before applying this solution, you need to root your device. The new market helper app isn't available on the Play store. You can download it from this website and install it.

Tricks For Installing Incompatible Android Apps With Country Restrictions

While installing some apps, you have received an error message that the app is not available in your country, it means that this app is only downloadable in certain regions. To solve this problem, you can actually fool Google by thinking that your device actually belongs to that country.

There are basically two ways to solve this problem: using a VPN to pretend that your device is actually in another country or install the APKs files from anywhere other than the Google play. Furthermore, if you manage to install these country restricted apps, then it will help you to install in other connected devices as well without using any tricks in the future.

#1 Use a VPN

Again, by using a VPN you can fool Google by making it think that your device is in another country. When you use a VPN, it changes your IP from your current country to another country, so that PLay store will consider you are browsing from another country.

Explore some FREE VPN apps from this list here and install any one of them. I would suggest you install any from the recommended list as they all work well.

VPN app gives you a certain amount of data which is sufficient to download a few apps. However, keep one thing in mind that your device cannot use cellular network connectivity directly without a VPN. Or, if you do so – Google play store can still identify your location. But if you are using WiFi + VPN, you can easily change google play store country on your Android.

Note: Before you change the Play store country, you need to be sure that you can't change the play store country again within 3 months. The payment, currency, and everything will be changed for that respective country for a 3-month duration. After that, you can change the country from Play Store again.

So, the idea is to Restart your device; connect it to a VPN with a server located in the appropriate country and then open Google play store. Now try to install the restricted country app, Play store may allow you to download the apps available in that country.

However, if you find some apps still unavailable in your country, then clear the cache of the play store and try again.

#2 Use Market Enabler App

To access this app on your device, you must root your device. Otherwise, Market Enabler will not support your phone. This app allows you to spoof other identifiers and help your device appears to be in another country.

Install the latest version of market enabler app as 2014 version is defunct. Also, please note that this solution does not work well in some devices, but yes, it's a good trick for some users. Once downloaded, follow the instructions to spoof identifiers of your device. You can also follow this thread to more about how to use this tool. That's all about installing incompatible Android apps by upgrading the OS of your device

Tricks For Installing Incompatible Android Apps By Bypassing OS Restrictions

#1 Install the APK file Directly

This is one of the more straightforward methods to download the country restricted app. You just need to download the app's APK file from the Google Play Store alternatives & then install it in your device. Google play will not permit to download the apps from other websites because of security risks. Thus you have to enable the use of unknown sources on your device first:

Open "Settings" and go for "Security options."
Scroll down to find Install Apps from "Unknown resources" and tap it.
A pop-up window will open related to security risks tap "OK."
Now you can easily install an external apk file from the unknown resources.

Note: Research options under settings, there could be different option names on your phone.

That's all. However, one thing to note here is that some apps blocks access as well if they are not supported in some countries. So, if that happens, probably there is no other way than using VPN apps to access app content.

#2 Update OS Of Your Android Device For Installing Incompatible Android Apps

Some apps may have downloaded with the latest version of androids only. To avoid this problem, you need to update your device android version. Well, updating the OS is not in our hand. Follow the below steps to check if your phone has an update available.

Settings >> About Phone >> System Update >> Update

However, you can do this by using third party ROM if you are using a very old or outdated phone which has not received any recent OS updates officially.

how to update android phone manually

Note: Refer to the image above, where we have taken an example of updating POCO F1 to the latest version manually, you can follow the steps similarly for any android devices. Option name might be a little different but the process is almost the same for every android devices.

You can install a third-party custom ROM such as Cyanogen Mod to upgrade your device to the latest version. After the successful update, you may download all incompatible apps. So, that's all about installing incompatible Android apps by upgrading the OS of your device.

Summary

Does any of the tricks work for you? If yes, then leave your message in the comment section. Hope the above article helps you and gives you the full solution of how to install incompatible apps from Google Play Store. I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and it helps you in fixing things up.

So, that's all for now and thanks for reading the post on TheAndroidPortal. Do follow us for more new posts related to android.

Contents

1 Three Facts Behind Incompatible Android Apps
- 1.1 Before Getting On With The Solutions, First, You Have To Bypass Your Device Restrictions.
2 Tricks For Installing Incompatible Android Apps With Country Restrictions
- 2.1 #1 Use a VPN
- 2.2 #2 Use Market Enabler App
3 Tricks For Installing Incompatible Android Apps By Bypassing OS Restrictions
- 3.1 #1 Install the APK file Directly
- 3.2 #2 Update OS Of Your Android Device For Installing Incompatible Android Apps
4 Summary