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How can I backup an app I bought from Google Play so that I can install it on my phone later?

I tried to copy /mnt/asec/[appId]-1/pkg.apk but it doesn't work.

Can someone help?

bmdixon
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G910
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  • Are you rooted? Titanium backup will do this easily. If not, pulling paid apk may not be possible as ususally Play uses the /data folder which you won't have any access to without root anyway. This is to stop you from copying the apk and sending it out illegally I would guess. – RossC Jan 29 '14 at 11:39
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    You don't need to back up the app anyway. Once you've paid for the app, you can install it again later, as many times as you like. – Dan Hulme Jan 29 '14 at 11:41

1 Answers1

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You don't need to back up apps bought on Google Play to install later. So long as the device has your Google account registered on it, you can download and install it from Google Play at any time.

Logos
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  • Good reason "pro backup" would be when the other device has no internet connection (wouldn't work either then as payed apps usually need to verify the license online), or just a very limited data plan (save the megabytes of the download by copying the .apk via SDCard locally). So while generally true, there might be exceptions from this rule :) – Izzy Jan 29 '14 at 12:43
  • No argument there, but wasn't really within the scope of the question as it was put IMO. – Logos Jan 29 '14 at 16:52