Install custom .apk without adb/Eclipse

Question

Is it possible to install an .apk on a phone without using developer tools? Can it simply be dragged to a mounted SD card? My beta testers are not very tech-savvy or comfortable with the command line.

Thanks in advance,

Barry

Answer 1

1. Copy the .apk file to DropBox (or any other cloud storage program. Box is another popular one).
2. Load DropBox on your Android device, navigate to the location of the .apk file and click Export.
3. Choose a location on the SD card to copy the .apk file to (eg /downloads).
4. Use a file explorer program (I use ES File Explorer) and navigate to the location on the SD card where you exported the .apk file to in step 3.
5. Click the .apk file, which will install the application to your device (Note that you will have to turn on 'Unknown Sources' so that non-Android Market apps can be installed on your device if this setting is off).

Answer 2

You can install it from an SD card if you have a file browser on the phone, or you can download it via a webserver using the browser.