PlaystoreDownloader

A command line tool to download Android applications directly from the Google Play Store.

PlaystoreDownloader is a tool for downloading Android applications directly from the Google Play Store. After an initial (one-time) configuration, applications can be downloaded by specifying their package name.

This project is intended for learning purposes only and is not affiliated with Google in any way.

❱ Demo

PlaystoreDownloader

❱ Configuration

Before interacting with the Play Store you have to provide valid credentials and an ANDROID ID associated to your
account. Please modify the
credentials.json file and insert
the required information before trying to use this tool:

  • Enter your Google email and password in the USERNAME and PASSWORD fields of the
    credentials.json file. This
    information is needed to authenticate with Google's servers.

  • Use the above credentials on an Android device (real or emulated) and download at least one application using the
    official Google Play Store on the device. This step is necessary in order to associate the ANDROID ID of the
    device to your account, so that you will be able to download applications as if you were directly using your device.
    Do not remove the account from the device or its ANDROID ID won't be valid anymore.

  • Get the ANDROID ID of the device and fill the ANDROID_ID field of the
    credentials.json file. You can
    obtain the ANDROID ID by installing the
    Device ID application on your device, then copy
    the string corresponding to Google Service Framework (GSF) (use this string instead of the Android Device ID
    presented by the application).

  • In case of errors related to the authentication after the above steps, consider allowing less secure apps to access
    your account by visiting https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps (visit the link while you are logged in).

Note that you will be able to download only the applications compatible with the device corresponding to the aforementioned ANDROID ID and further limitations may influence the total number of applications available for download.

❱ Usage

Apart from valid Play Store credentials, the only requirement of this project is a working Python 3.8 installation
(along with its package manager pip). The first thing to do is to get a local copy of this repository, so open up
a terminal in the directory where you want to save the project and clone the repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/ClaudiuGeorgiu/PlaystoreDownloader.git
$ cd PlaystoreDownloader

Make sure to execute the following commands in the previously created PlaystoreDownloader/ directory:

$ # The usage of a virtual environment is highly recommended, e.g., virtualenv.
$ # If not using virtualenv (https://virtualenv.pypa.io/), skip the next 2 lines.
$ virtualenv -p python3.8 venv
$ source venv/bin/activate

$ # Install PlaystoreDownloader's requirements.
$ python3.8 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

After configuring the Play Store credentials as described in the configuration, simply call the
following instruction using the package name of the app to download:

$ python3.8 download.py "com.application.example"

If the download is successful, the resulting .apk file will be saved in the PlaystoreDownloader/Downloads/
directory. You can change the name and the location of the downloaded .apk file by providing an additional
-o "path/to/downloaded.apk" argument to
download.py
(type $ python3.8 download.py --help for more information).

Docker is also supported:

$ # Make sure to have valid credentials inside credentials.json file before building the image.
$ docker build -t downloader .

$ # Download the selected application in the current directory.
$ docker run --rm -it -u $(id -u):$(id -g) -v "${PWD}":"/app/Downloads" downloader "com.application.example"

GitHub