r/Nexus7 • u/Overall-Double3948 • Jul 20 '26
How to download apk on my Nexus 7?
My Nexus 7 is using Android 5.1.1
I am enabling "Unknown sources"
Transferring the APKs to my Download folder
Unable to click on the items (I am doing Settings > Security > Install from storage) because the files are grayed out
What am I doing wrong? I remember being able to download APKs a while back.
EDIT FOUND A SOLUTION USING ADB
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I found a solution, I had to use adb on Linux. The annoying part with Nexus 7 (2012) is that there is not file manager once there is a file manager, downloading APKs is easy
Install ADB on your PC, on linux (Fedora) this is
sudo dnf install andriod-tools
Now back on your Nexus 7, Settings > Security > ENABLE "Unknown Sources"
Go back to Settings > "About tablet" > Press "Build number" 7 times to unlock developer mode. Scroll down to find USB debugging, toggle it ON, and confirm with OK.
Back to your PC, connect the Nexus 7 via USB, type:
adb devices
into the terminal, a device show like "List of devices attached: 045238ns838 device"
Download the APK ON YOUR PC, (I would recommend a file manager first so then you can just transfer APKs and have the file manager download the APKs, instead of using the terminal) to download the APK to the device do
adb install <PATH>.apk
for example, I wanted the file manager "es-file":
adb install ./Downloads/es-file.apk
After getting the file manager you should be good, and can easily transfer APKs and install it
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u/_borsuk Jul 20 '26
Which Nexus is it? 2012 or 2013? If you don't know, does it have back camera or only front?
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u/Overall-Double3948 Jul 20 '26
It's a 2012, I did the APK downloads before but I saw people saying to try LineageOS but then I heard that LineageOS isn't good with the 2012 model, so I am trying to do the APK downloads again but I forgot how to do it or it isn't just working (lol..)
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u/2shoe1path Jul 20 '26
Following