Readers’ Tips

Get paid-for Android apps for free

My friend told me about a free Android app called Amazon Underground. It’s similar to Amazon’s standard app, but it has more features, including Amazon Video. Its best feature, however, is its Underground section. Much like Google Play, it lets you install apps and games. The main difference is that everything in this section is free and doesn’t contain any in-app purchases. You need an Amazon account to use the app.

Amazon Underground is not available in the Google Play store, so you need to install it using a browser app. First, open Settings on your device, then tap Security. Tap the ‘Unknown sources’ slider to turn it off, then tap OK. This lets you install apps from sources other than the Play store. You are disabling an important Android security feature here, so make sure you only install apps from Google Play and Amazon Underground in future. To be safe, I usually switch the ‘Unknown sources’ slider back on after I’ve finished installing apps from Amazon Underground.

Open your browser app, then go to www.snipca.com/21977. Scroll to Step 1, tap the ‘these instructions’ link, then the Download Amazon Underground button. You’ll now see a notification saying ‘Amazon_app.apk’ is downloading. Open the Downloads folder on your device, tap to open the downloaded file, then tap Install.

After it’s installed, tap Open and log into the app using your Amazon account. Next, tap the three lines at the top left, then ‘All Apps & Games’. Finally, tap the Underground Apps tab at the top to see a list of paid-for items you can get for free (see screenshot). Select the app you want, tap Download, then Install.