Advertisement
📱 How to Turn Off Google Play Protect & Enable APK Installation
Important: Disabling Play Protect turns off automatic security scanning. Do this only temporarily and only if you trust the app source.
🍀 Method 1: Turn it off through the Google Play Store
- Step 1: Open the Google Play Store app on your Android phone.
- Step 2: Tap your profile picture or initial in the top right corner.
- Step 3: Select “Play Protect” (it has a shield icon).
- Step 4: Tap the gear icon ⚙️ in the top right corner (Settings).
- Step 5: You'll see two switches:
- Scan apps with Play Protect
- Improve harmful app detection
Step 6: 👉 Turn both switches off (slide them to the left).
When asked for confirmation:
“Turn off Play Protect scanning?” → Tap Turn off.
🍀 Method 2: Turn it off from your phone’s Settings app (some phones)
- Step 1: Open your phone’s Settings.
- Step 2: Scroll down and select Google → then Security.
- Step 3: Tap Google Play Protect.
- Step 4: Turn off “Scan apps with Play Protect.”
Tip: To turn it back on later, go to Play Store → profile icon → Play Protect → ⚙️ and switch the options back ON.
🍀 Method 3: Allow installation of APK files (outside Google Play)
- Step 1: Open your phone’s Settings.
- Step 2: Tap Security (or Privacy & Security on newer Android versions).
- Step 3: Tap Install unknown apps (or Install unknown sources).
- Step 4: Choose the app you’ll use to open/download the APK (e.g., Chrome, Files).
- Step 5: Switch on “Allow from this source.”
- Step 6: You can now install APK files from that app.
Safety reminder: After installing, turn Play Protect back on and consider disabling “Allow from this source” again.
