Quick Tip: Install an Android App via the Play Store on the Desktop
First off, apologies if you already know about this. I just noticed this this evening. Second off, just in case it’s not obvious in the post title, this is not a form of side loading; this is a legitimate way to install an Android app on your phone or other mobile devices via the Play Store on a desktop PC.
Here’s when this is useful - when you search for an app on the Play Store on your phone (and I assume same goes for tablets) and the search cannot find the app, and only offers up alternatives. This happened to me tonight when searching for Readwise. On my Pixel 7 Pro the Play Store showed me only alternatives and Readwise Reader - which, though it is a product by the same team, is not the same primary app. It is an app that is in private alpha stage right now.
I searched the Play Store on my Mac just to sanity check that I wasn’t getting the name wrong. And the Play Store on the Mac showed me the proper app and that big green button saying “Install on more devices” that you can see in the screenshot at the top of this post. I hit the drop-down, chose my Pixel 7 Pro, and after a quick sign-in to my Google account, it took maybe a minute or less to get the app installed on the phone.
If I hadn’t done the desktop search I probably would have given up on getting the mobile version of Readwise today. So, a useful new thing for me, and maybe/hopefully useful to some of you who read this.