19 November 2011

How to Sideload Apps onto the Kindle Fire - Dropbox

Are you thinking of getting the new Kindle Fire? Are you wondering if you can run all of your apps on it? Follow along as I learn how to side load Android apps from my phone to the Kindle Fire, no rooting or jail-breaking required!

Several apps I want are either unavailable from Amazon or incompatible with the new Kindle Fire. One incompatible app is Zinio.com, which you can download directly from the Zinio site. One app unavailable in the Amazon store is Dropbox. Today I am going to follow directions given by Sascha Segan in "How to run almost any android app on the Kindle Fire" to copy these apps to the Kindle Fire. He is very techie, but me, not so much. Because I am a visual learner, I have added pictures.

Step 1: Back up apps to Android phone SD Card

1. Download, install and open the free ASTRO File Manager for your Android phone.
  
2. Click on File Manager.

3. From the menu button, click on preferences.
Preferences is bottom left
4. Click on Backup Directory and choose your SD card. My backup for the SD card is /mnt/sdcard/backups. See Sascha Segan's instructions for more technical details.

5. Go back to the main ASTRO screen and click on Application Backup.

6.  Click on the app you want to download and choose backup.
I clicked on Dropbox

Step 2: Copy apps from Android phone SD card to PC


Step 3: Copy apps from PC to Kindle Fire


Step 4: Download Easy Installer to Kindle Fire, open and use to install apps. The nice thing about Easy Installer is it's easy! When you open the program, the apps available for install appear immediately. No need to search for where you might have put the app. Not that that ever happens to me. 


If I can sideload an app, you can too. Next up: Nook


Let me know if you have any questions or comments. 


2:10 PM Update: No Sideloading Google Apps - Do you know how many Google apps there are? Why doesn't Google offer apps for either the Color Nook or the Kindle Fire? I am betting it is because both use proprietary software, but to me it seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Does Google prefer me to buy a non proprietary device? What's in it for them? Why don't I go to www.google.com to find out. Or, will they filter the results to only show me what they want me to know. Do you know? 


Greg Knieriemen writes in Kindle Fire, An Open Letter to Jeff Bezos that Amazon is blocking Google. Really? So is Amazon blocking or Google not sharing? Could everyone just play nice please so that I can have my cake and eat it too?

Scrappy Gen
Let's Remember!


7 comments:

  1. "kindles" my desire to get an android phone. Maybe for Christmas. Great post thanks.

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  2. Thanks. I've been debating about a Kindle fire, but dislike the limited apps. This does help.

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  3. Glad this post helped and perhaps inspired some wish list items. Jen

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  4. Thank you so much. Easier than rooting.

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  5. You are welcome and I will have to take your word for it, since I have no idea how to root and don't want to try. I like technology to be easy. Jen

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  6. I am stumped...I have put the 'dropbox' that I copy and paste onto my kindle fire plugged into my computer.... and all that... I cannot find
    my download file on KF to get the dropbox open.... it is not showing up anywhere but I know it is in there somewhere...help? suethomas2@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dropbox is available on Amazon now. You can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Dropbox-Inc/dp/B006LR0XLM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348930833&sr=8-1&keywords=dropbox+app

      Delete

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