I have some apps installed on my firestick 2 that I would like to move to my Sony Android tv, especially downloader. How can I extract the apk from the firestick to either my android phone or to a usb drive?
(OT Any help on how to sideload apps to the Android tv would also be appreciated).
Thanks.
/system/app
/system/priv-app
Thank you, but for that I would need to be rooted - which I am not.
Install es file explorer, go to apps, highlight the app you want by holding down the firestick central remote button, go to the bottom of the es explorer app where you’ll see backup, choose that. Repeat for each app or do it all at once. You’ll find the apk files stored in the backup folder under internal storage, backups, app. From there, pick your poison on how you transfer them to your Android tv.
In the past, I used dropbox to install apk files on to my stick. You could probably do the same with your Android tv box. The fire tv was simple because i could also use a usb flash drive plugged into the back to transfer / install the sideload apk files where as you need a two in one power/ usb cable for the stick to run the power and install a usb flash drive at the same time. I use lightning browser and if there’s an apk file I want quickly, I usually send it to my gmail account which I then download and install directly on to the stick. I use a mini bluetooth keyboard with the stick for easy input.
I’m sure there are a ton of other sideloading options. I just use what works for me.
Related
I've already done this with many apps and tested a few (Netflix[buggy], CrunchyRoll, XBMC, MxPlayer[kinda buggy], Root Explorer, SNES9xEX). Some games won't work because they crash on start or some time during gameplay.
Requires downloading APK's from somewhere online or having another device that has access to the store. You can either get an app like APK Extract or if you are rooted, you can use an File Managing app to browse to the /Data/App folder and directly copy the apk to Sdcard then put onto USB Stick or use Adb Install from the location.
You have two options for installing Play Store apps:
A) First Method
Use ADB to install the apps for you (requires having android sdk, correct drivers and usb debugging enabled to connect)
Adb Devices (to check your device is found, I suggest following this setup for getting adb to find device, very important https://devs.ouya.tv/developers/docs/setup)
It should show up with an list of numbers showing like
List of devices attached
015d46d973142207 device
Adb Install <path of apk>
Example: Adb install C:\AndroidAPK\Netflix.apk
A) Second Method (Only use if you already have installed an File Managing app, otherwise you'll have no way to access the files on your sdcard)
Adb Push <path of APK on your system> <Path where you want APK to go>
Example: Adb push C:\AndroidAPK\Netflix.apk /sdcard/
I suggest having folders/files with no spaces and renaming the apks to easier names.
B Method Requires File Managing app to be installed prior, highly suggest getting some file managing app.
B) If you've already gathered all the apks you want to try, load them up onto an USB stick or storage device(my external 1TB WD HDD works perfectly fine, usb powered not a/c)
Navigate to your sdcard via File Managing app and just click to install each APK, this is easier if you don't want to connect Ouya to an computer each time you want to load an play store app.
3rd Method - Requires rooted phone
Step 1 - Install a file browser on your Ouya (you can use the browser to go here: http://www.estrongs.com/en/download.html and download one for free. Install from settings -> storage -> downloads)
Step 2 - Buy\Install Titanium Backup
Step 3 - In options of TB, change compression to none
Step 4 - Backup whatever app
Step 5 - Copy the apk from your phone to a USB stick (requires a pc if phone doesn't support a usb stick)
Step 6 - Install apk off of the usb stick in the Ouya using the previously installed file browser
4th method: no root required anywhere, no PC either
Use ES file explorer to create app backups on your device, use it to upload the APKs to cloud storage(i use Box), then use ES file explorer on your OUYA to either install the backups straight from the cloud individually or batch copy and then install them.
This method is slow compared to using a USB stick, but my new ones are to thick to fit next to the hdmi plug, and my old one has that stupid U3 thing that seems to keep the OUYA from seeing it even though my Samsung devices see it.
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2
Hi, is it possible to create a topic with the different app url ?
Latest Working PlayStore
Latest Working NetFlix
Latest Working XBMC
etc...
And thx very much for your TUTO
Envoyé depuis mon Transformer avec Tapatalk
Play store on ouya
You can install play store on ouya Install Play Store on OUYA
Can anyone tell me an easy way of copying my Kodi setup between several FTV sticks? I have one setup up with all repos and addons to my liking and want to copy this to a few others that family have bought. I don't want to have to manually add repos and addons for each individual device. I have installed Kodi backup application and backed my own up to the device under /storage/emulated/0/download (from memory may not be correct). Can i use ADB pull to my PC and then push this onto the other FTVs? I haven't much experience of ADB other that installing apps with it. Or if anyone has any easier ways or suggestions i'd be grateful.
Thanks.
/storage/emulated/0/ = /sdcard/
Its just easier to type in /sdcard/ each time, instead of the full filepath.
-
Yes - its entirely possible, in fact its the way I also like to handle backing up and duplicating a Kodi installation.
All you need to do is
adb pull /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/ /PATH OF YOUR FOLDER ON THE LOCAL COMPUTER/
then adb push the same folder to another Fire TV (Stick), after you've installed Kodi there (adb install /PATH TO THE APK ON YOUR COMPUTER.apk) and started it once, then exited it - then:
adb push /PATH OF YOUR FOLDER ON THE LOCAL COMPUTER/ /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/
Thats it. .kodi is a hidden folder on the device (thats what the . stands for), thats about all.
---------- Post added at 05:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:17 PM ----------
An easy way to browse the Fire TV (Stick) over ADB on Windows is
Total Commander with the ADB filesystem addon: http://totalcmd.net/plugring/android_adb.html
If you use adbfire just hit backup(put the backup where you can find it again) and when it's done connect adbfire to the new fire stick and click restore and navigate to where you saved the backup, pretty simple
Yes and you have not even learn anything about Android file structure, because navigating through folders hurts peoples brains. Instead you'll learn how to push several buttons and put numbers into fields. You know, like in your dayjob (*sarc*). Thats fun.
Also - during the pull operation adb Fire performs, you'll see a nice infinite loop of a fake progression bar - while if you'd be using the real adb you'll see the files actually copying over. Fake progression bar gifs are much more pleasent to look at. They give you a sense of excitement - in not knowing if something is happening, or not.
I say - make everything a person knows as abstract as possible. As far removed from the real thing as it can be. It causes less thoughts. And therefore - less problems in the long run...
I hate this dependency on ADB Fire appraoch. Did so from the very beginning. The program is harshly laid out, end prevents people from gaining any below surface knowledge - its just recommended so much, because people have a hard time typing. I'm not against good GUI's in fact, I prefer them in almost all cases - but ADB Fire and its rivals are just a buttondump fest to prevent real learning.
When replicating an entire FIre TV (Stick) plain adb actually turns out to be faster, and more forward with the information it gives back to you. Because adb install *dragdroptheapk* turns out to be faster than installing apks through ADB fire. But then again - buttons are so likeable.
--
Also - before using adbFire or adb to do a backup - you could use texturecache.py ( http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=158373 ) to prune ( P ) your Kodi installation, which would delete unnecessary thumbnails that have accumulated in Kodis cache over the time. This will reduce the time the backup takes, as less files are copied over.
Thanks guys. I've never had any luck with the adb tool. It wouldn't ever work for me. Adb push/pull seems straight forward enough I'll try it out.
What I do all the time with all my android devices including Fire TV is use 'ES FILE EXPLORER' to copy the folder 'org.xbmc.kodi' from original device (location: Android/data) onto a shared folder on my network and then copy it from there (using the same ES file explorer on the other devices) back again onto the same location of the receiving device. Works perfectly every time.
Quick question, how is this any different from the "Backup" addon that is used on Kodi? What I usually do is load everything like normal, then when I have my setup just how I want, I go to the "backup" addon, backup all of my info, and then copy it to a flash drive. Once copied, I install Kodi on other Fire TV's and then copy over the backup onto them, load the addon, and click "restore". And boom bada bing, I have everything just like my original Fire TV. EXCEPT, for a few things like skin settings, like widgets, and RSS feeds, and subtitle options.
The easiest way to do it is to copy the addons folder and your user data folder to you PC using ES Fle Explorer. install any varient of XBMC/Kodi on the other Fire TV sticks and open XBMC/Kodi one time so that it sets up the data folder contained inside Android/data. So this is basically all you need to do
1)Install XBMC/Kodi on all your devices and open one time.
2)Install Filezilla on your PC and ES File Explorer on all of your devices.
3)Open ES File Explorer on the device that already has Kodi setup, and go to the Network tab and click on remote manager and turn it on
4)Now type in the IP address and port into Filezilla that it shows on ES File Explorer and navigate to Android/data and find the data folder for your version of Kodi.
5)Once there simply copy over the addons folder and the userdata folder to yor PC.
6)Once those two folders are copied to your PC, simply go to each of the other devices and connect to ES File Explorer and overwrite the addons and userdata folders with the ones you just downloaded to your PC and restart Kodi on each device.
When you turn on the remote manager in ES file Explorer it will give you an address like this ftp://192.168.0.105:3721, the numbers 192.168.0.105 will be the address you type into Filezilla and the port will be 3721. I am sure your IP will be different so use the numbers that ES File Explorer shows and not the ones I used as an example. Also, when you go into the remote manager in ES File Explorer it will say settings at the bottom, if you click on that it will say set root directory, that means that when you connect with Filezilla that the directory you set will be the directory that it shown first from your Fire TV. So if its set to SDCARD, when you connect to filezilla you would just navigate to wherever you need to go just like you would inside ES File Explorer if you were in the SDCARD directory.
Just a reminder if you are logged into Youtube or any other addon, when you copy your Kodi setup to another device it will be logged in on that device as well. So if you do not want people doing things on your account you will need to log out before or after copying to other devices.
Download adbfire and do a Backup. Then connect the others Fire TVs and do a Restore with adbfire. That Backup folder that gets created can be used to copy everything to as many fire TVs.
How do I jailbreak my fire stick? I just purchased it today.
What have I done wrong, connect to device press backup and get an error ' media center not installed'
speed ?
How fast does everyone get with this method ? I got only 5-6 Mbit/s when doing restore or backup .
How to Prune
I am looking into copying all the kodi addons and such from one firestick to another. How would i go about using the texturecache.py that you suggested.
You have to first install Kodi in the new Fire Stick before restoring the backup
hey i have been trying this today but when i try to restore the backup to another stick it just says wrong backup folder type or something??
D33H said:
Thanks guys. I've never had any luck with the adb tool. It wouldn't ever work for me. Adb push/pull seems straight forward enough I'll try it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
make sure your computer is wifi and connected to same wi-fi as your stick, I find usb connection to be a bit 'iffy'
n0ka25 said:
hey i have been trying this today but when i try to restore the backup to another stick it just says wrong backup folder type or something??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
latinotter2 said:
You have to first install Kodi in the new Fire Stick before restoring the backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Farva603 said:
I am looking into copying all the kodi addons and such from one firestick to another. How would i go about using the texturecache.py that you suggested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
richiec427 said:
make sure your computer is wifi and connected to same wi-fi as your stick, I find usb connection to be a bit 'iffy'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heres another method -
Add the source Xfinity if you haven't already & install there repo (if you dont know how to add a source in kodi google it), install the Usb/Sd card backup add on inaddon, configure the backup location of your choice (aftv backup or name it what ever you wanna call it), then start the add on & select backup of your choice (full = is everything, addons = just the addons), wait, once finished put your backup on the new device then add source Xfinity on the new device, configure location Again, open add on & select restore, sometimes it hangs a while but works good, if using a different skin once you restored It change to the skin you were using, then restore again (sometimes it don't all stick first go), any backgrounds need to be loaded on if the location of the pics are on the root of the device? & note if it hangs on a 100% completion just force close using the select circle button & play/pause buttons held down for about 6seconds. Enjoy your new backup copy on your other device.
If this helped press that like button
deanr1977 said:
Heres another method -
Add the source Xfinity if you haven't already & install there repo (if you dont know how to add a source in kodi google it), install the Usb/Sd card backup add on inaddon, configure the backup location of your choice (aftv backup or name it what ever you wanna call it), then start the add on & select backup of your choice (full = is everything, addons = just the addons), wait, once finished put your backup on the new device then add source Xfinity on the new device, configure location Again, open add on & select restore, sometimes it hangs a while but works good, if using a different skin once you restored It change to the skin you were using, then restore again (sometimes it don't all stick first go), any backgrounds need to be loaded on if the location of the pics are on the root of the device? & note if it hangs on a 100% completion just force close using the select circle button & play/pause buttons held down for about 6seconds. Enjoy your new backup copy on your other device.
If this helped press that like button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has the address for xfinity.xunitytalk.com changed? Hasn't worked for me for at least a week.
zaspears said:
Has the address for xfinity.xunitytalk.com changed? Hasn't worked for me for at least a week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes mate heres the new source -
http://xunitytalk.me/xfinity
Press that thanks button if this helps
solorzano_felipe said:
Download adbfire and do a Backup. Then connect the others Fire TVs and do a Restore with adbfire. That Backup folder that gets created can be used to copy everything to as many fire TVs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When doing back up via adb fire ,dies it save the back up to my laptop and if so where ,I get kodi back up device data location and thumbnail location
Thanks for any help
---------- Post added at 10:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------
Also how long does a back up take and do you get a message when complete,mine been running about 25 mins now ?
Hey all I have a rooted fire tv. How would I backup my info? What would I back it up too? I have usb drives. Thanks.
thegameksk said:
Hey all I have a rooted fire tv. How would I backup my info? What would I back it up too? I have usb drives. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From your Q, I am assuming you are asking about backing up your Kodi data. If you are:
The folder that needs to be backed up is residing at /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files. In that you will see a folder called ".kodi" that has all your settings and addons. This folder needs to be backed up.
If you have attached a USB to your FTV and your firmware on the FTV is allowing you see that attached USB (located at /sdcard/extUsb), you can use multiple ways to copy the folder. You can use an app like ES File Explorer or one of the apps like Fire TV utility or ADBFire (I could be wrong on the names, I don't use them. I believe they have a forum thread where you can post Qs). You can also use native shell commands and not use any external app to copy to USB, but I would not recommend it if you are not familiar with scripting. Using apps would be much simpler.
If you are on a firmware on your FTV that does not have native USB support, you will probably need to use an app like "USB OTG Helper" or "StickMount" or other apps to mount your USB first before you can start using its storage. Maybe the ADBFire or Fire TV Utility has mounting features, you will need to look into those apps for that.
EDIT: You can also backup your folder to your computer if you have ADB installed on your computer and can connect to your FTV through ADB. Depending on your choice, someone can give you more detailed steps.
The only thing I see there is advanced settings in the .kodi folder.
You need to show hidden files. Get yourself a copy of es file explorer. Copy add ons and user data to where you want to keep them.
I have a Fire TV and i'm upgrading to a NVIDIA Shield. All I need to do is copy the file I backed up to the same directory and I will have all of my original settings and repos back?
backup
thegameksk said:
I have a Fire TV and i'm upgrading to a NVIDIA Shield. All I need to do is copy the file I backed up to the same directory and I will have all of my original settings and repos back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked from my ouya to AFTV...Have a try!
Hey guys I've been using adbfire pretty much exclusively since it came out but was just wondering if there is any apk loader program that lets you load multiple apks at once. My apk library is getting pretty big (about 30 or so) and I'm starting to get tired of loading them one by one when i'm setting up a unit does anything like this exist?
Really i'm the only person this lazy?
ES File Explorer. I keep everything I want for Android boxes and FireTVs in folders in Dropbox and ES is connected to my Dropbox account: I can select multiple items, download them all at once, then select just the apks and open them, ES will install them one by one (but you will need to give it permissions for every app).
Terry T said:
ES File Explorer. I keep everything I want for Android boxes and FireTVs in folders in Dropbox and ES is connected to my Dropbox account: I can select multiple items, download them all at once, then select just the apks and open them, ES will install them one by one (but you will need to give it permissions for every app).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sir are a friend. I'm gonna try this tomorrow I just ordered like 4 boxes for some fam. I also know that there is a way to access a folder on you pc with es file explorer have you tried that method or is Dropbox fastest?
I've done it both ways, in my setup there was no big difference in the speed: with Dropbox I'm limited by the combination of my FireTV wireless and my internet, direct from my PC I'm limited by the combination of my FireTV wireless and my PC wireless. If both the FireTV and the PC are wired, I expect direct from your PC to be faster than using Dropbox.
After thinking about it a little more, probably the simplest, fastest thing you can do is put everything on a flash drive and plug it into the USB port on the FireTV, then you don't even need to copy the files to the FireTV.
- Format the flashdrive to FAT32 first (required for the FireTV)
- Copy your library of apps to it, and plug it into the FireTV
- Open ES and go to Local/extUSB
- Long press one apk, in a couple of seconds it will show a checkmark
- Select all the other apks you want to install
- Go to the bottom right and click on More
- Select open
Then you will have to sit and tell it to install and give permissions to each app, one by one. I tried it with Dolphin browser, worked fine.
Terry T said:
I've done it both ways, in my setup there was no big difference in the speed: with Dropbox I'm limited by the combination of my FireTV wireless and my internet, direct from my PC I'm limited by the combination of my FireTV wireless and my PC wireless. If both the FireTV and the PC are wired, I expect direct from your PC to be faster than using Dropbox.
After thinking about it a little more, probably the simplest, fastest thing you can do is put everything on a flash drive and plug it into the USB port on the FireTV, then you don't even need to copy the files to the FireTV.
- Format the flashdrive to FAT32 first (required for the FireTV)
- Copy your library of apps to it, and plug it into the FireTV
- Open ES and go to Local/extUSB
- Long press one apk, in a couple of seconds it will show a checkmark
- Select all the other apks you want to install
- Go to the bottom right and click on More
- Select open
Then you will have to sit and tell it to install and give permissions to each app, one by one. I tried it with Dolphin browser, worked fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't es file explorer let you install the apks without transfering them?
Yes, that's what I did from the flashdrive. Over wireless, I go ahead and copy the files to the FireTV before installing just because I'm a little paranoid about an error in the transfer causing a problem.
Terry T said:
Yes, that's what I did from the flashdrive. Over wireless, I go ahead and copy the files to the FireTV before installing just because I'm a little paranoid about an error in the transfer causing a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried it out on the box it works great thanks for the tip so much easier. It actually did crash when I selected install without transferring files first but I think it was because I was installing another apk over web at the same time lol. Anyway when it restarted it just picked up where it left off and asked if I wanted to overwrite some files.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I've owned this TCL TV for around 5 months now and I'm generally pleased with the image quality overall but the apps and navigation is pretty crap. I can't even imagine why 90% of the apps available are even offered as there's hardly anything that's even recognisable!
I was looking into perhaps "side-loading" a better browser (it doesn't get much worse than the included T-Browser!) but I can't see any option in the settings menu to enable "remote debug" to facilitate possible ES File Explorer functionality.
Is it even possible to side load onto this TV?
I know you can access the "secret" menu by typing 1950 when in the contrast section of the display menu.
Any ideas? :fingers-crossed:
Don't all rush at once then :fingers-crossed:
I don't understand the problem. Just download the apk on a PC to a USB drive, put the USB drive into your PC and then install the apk file with any Android TV file explorer.
That's it
FaserF said:
I don't understand the problem. Just download the apk on a PC to a USB drive, put the USB drive into your PC and then install the apk file with any Android TV file explorer.
That's it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I asked
but I can't see any option in the settings menu to enable "remote debug" to facilitate possible ES File Explorer functionality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So without enabling "remote debug", how do I install the apk file on the USB stick without an Android TV file explorer installed on the TV.....?
gtd2000 said:
That's why I asked
So without enabling "remote debug", how do I install the apk file on the USB stick without an Android TV file explorer installed on the TV.....?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you need remote debug? As said in my post, just copy the apk from a PC to a USB drive and plug in the usb drive into your PC. There is no need for the remote debug option to install an apk locally.
Other options to sideload apps are with wireless adb (enabling usb debugging in the developer settings) or download a compatible file explorer (for example ES File Explorer) where you can connect to a cloud storage, then upload the apk for example to google drive and then sign in with your google drive in that file explorer.
FaserF said:
Why do you need remote debug? As said in my post, just copy the apk from a PC to a USB drive and plug in the usb drive into your PC. There is no need for the remote debug option to install an apk locally.
Other options to sideload apps are with wireless adb (enabling usb debugging in the developer settings) or download a compatible file explorer (for example ES File Explorer) where you can connect to a cloud storage, then upload the apk for example to google drive and then sign in with your google drive in that file explorer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you think that if I copy a "file explorer" apk to the USB stick it can be installed?
When I insert a USB stick the only option (as far as I'm aware) that I can choose is the media input selection. That then gives me a choice of photo, video or all files.
I understood that my TV does not have a native or default method to install apk's, unless I can enable, "remote debug", then transfer the ES File Explorer via Network options?
USB is not need. Download File Commander on both an Android tablet/phone and also on your TV (should be in normal Play Apps store). Sign up for the 5GB free Google drive, download the APKs from any of the APK repos on your tablet and save to drive, use File Commander on TV to install. You'll need to allow unknown sources on TV, and not every APk works, but hopefully this gets you started...
BaahBaah said:
USB is not need. Download File Commander on both an Android tablet/phone and also on your TV (should be in normal Play Apps store). Sign up for the 5GB free Google drive, download the APKs from any of the APK repos on your tablet and save to drive, use File Commander on TV to install. You'll need to allow unknown sources on TV, and not every APk works, but hopefully this gets you started...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no File Commander on this TV or Play Store, only the TCL app store.
After reading further into this particular TV, it seems to be running the Linux based Smart TV 3.0?
This is the TV:
https://www.tcl.com/uk/en/new-produ...4k-hdr-with-android-tv-and-freeview-play.html
Apologies, looks like you don't have an Android TV so this won't work