Websites To Download Android Apps That Aren't Google Play Store

Here are some places to find free and paid apps without Google’s help. There are a few hundred thousand apps available for download from Google’s official Android Market. But not every Android device can access the Market, and not every app is available from Google’s app superstore.

Gameloft, for instance, has a reputation for releasing highly polished (if not exactly original) games without always going through the Android Market. Other developers, such as Grooveshark, have been booted from the Market but continue to offer apps for Android users, because unlike iOS, Windows Phone 7, and some other mobile platforms, Android allows users to install apps that aren’t downloaded from the official Market.

Note that Appbrain, Cyrket, AndroLib and other third party App directories are not included in this list. Those all require you to download apps through the Android Market. The following app stores are all designed to let you download and install apps directly.

Aproov
Aproov gives you filtering by category and the ability to search.  Aproov has their own algorithim called App Rank to filter apps to the top of lists based on several rankings.




Amazon Appstore
 The Amazon Appstore is the Amazon.com foray into the Android apps download market.  And Amazon is off to a great start.  They have an amazing organizational system for the apps and they also boast their own recommendation engine.  This is a great place for the new Android owner to head to.  You also get the Amazon style reviews that you see on their main site Amazon.com.




Phoload
Phoload has two things that make it stand out from the crowd.  First it is a community based site and depends heavily on its users to rate apps.  Second it’s a totally free application store.

PocketGear
PocketGear bills themselves as the world’s largest Android apps download marketplace.  And this very well may be true.  PocketGear has been around for a very long time.  PocketGear like most other sites give you the ability to search and offers views of top apps in different areas.

Appoke
 Appoke is a social app store, allowing you to see which apps your friends are using to find new apps you might like. You can also send app recommendations to your friends.

SlideME
 This is one of the oldest alternative marketplaces for Android apps. The company was founded in 2008 with the goal of making Android apps available in regions and on devices that aren’t normally supported.






AndAppStore
 Soon to be replaced with a new marketplace called So.cio featuring apps, games, eBooks, and music, AndAppStore currently offers a simple but effective app for locating and downloading apps on your Android device.



OpenAppMkt
The developers behind OpenAppMkt take a very different approach to app discovery than most others. The app store provides a directory of HTML5-based web apps which run in your web browser, but which behave much like native apps.