An average user is unlikely to need to convert an AAB file to an APK. However, if that is your case, we will explain step by step how to do it. The “Android App Bundle” files, better known simply as AAB, are the format that will replace the APK on Google Play . So Google has decided.
But that’s not all you should know if you want to learn how to convert AAB file to APK . That is why we will start by clarifying what are AABs and why is it so difficult to convert them into APK files?
What are AABs and how to turn them into APKs?
We have already talked in detail about what Android App Bundles are, but it never hurts to review what you have learned. Without going into technicalities, AABs are non-executable files that contain all the necessary packages for an app to work universally on Android phones.
Think of them as a compressed file from which you can extract all the information necessary for the application to work optimally on your mobile and on any other Android mobile.
The trick is that, every time you want to install an application from an AAB file, there is a program that is in charge of extracting the necessary packages so that it works specifically on your mobile, grouping them in an installable APK file. This brings a couple of advantages:
- Mainly, it saves programmers work .
- Optimizes the space that the application occupies in the mobile memory.
The main drawback is that if you come across an App Bundle outside of Google Play, turning it into an APK file is complicated .
What do you need to convert an AAB file to APK?
- AndroidStudio.
- The Bundletool app.
- A computer.
Install Android Studio on your computer if you don’t already have it. This program is specially designed for Android programmers. It is very useful for converting AAB files to APKs because it uses the Java programming language and also allows you to sign applications, two fundamental requirements for converting an AAB file to APK.
The Bundletool is also required because it will take care of converting the AAB bundle to an APK file . Once you meet these requirements, the only thing left is to follow the steps to convert an AAB file to APK.
How to get the APK of an application?
- Create a folder where you can save the .aab file and the Bundletool app together on your computer.
- Press the key with the Windows symbol and the letter R simultaneously.
- A window will appear where you need to type ” cmd “.
- Clicking “OK” will open the Windows console , don’t worry.
- Next you will have to write the address of the folder where you saved the Bundletool app and the AAB file: CD C:/folder .
- Take into account that you must replace the name “folder” with the name that you have given to the folder where the files are saved.
- The next line of code to write is this: bundletool build-apks –bundle=app.aab –output=app.apks –mode=universal .
- Again, note that you’ll need to replace the name “app” with the name of the AAB app you downloaded.
- By entering that command in the console and running it, the program will take care of converting the packages to an APKS file .
- In the meantime, Bundletool will tell you that it will use the debug certificate from Android Studio .
- When everything is finished, you will have an APKS file that you will have to rename to a ZIP extension in order to unzip it and extract the APK file from it.
- To unzip the ZIP file you need a program like WinRAR.
Finally, you should know that the application you install using this method cannot be updated or installed over previous versions of it . Even so, we hope that this little tutorial has been useful to you. And if something has not been clear to you, do not hesitate to ask, we will gladly answer you.
You should also know that there is another faster option to extract APK files from Android App Bundle: you can visit one of the Android App Repositories . In the case of APKMirror, it has its own format and executable program to save you work when converting an AAB file to APK.
