The popularization of mobile application stores has been so great that it is currently strange to think of another way to install software on our devices. Even computers have joined this trend, creating Apple and Microsoft stores for MacOS and Windows.
However, on Android mobile devices it is sometimes not possible to install certain applications due to certain limitations which are not completely transparent to the user. This can be seen when you open an app or game tab and the text appears “Your device is not compatible with this version”.
Sometimes this is done to avoid a bad user experience, but other times The reason is a tactical business problem, and it is possible to install these applications in another way. Of course, this installation is not controlled by the Play Store.
Why does the message appear?
Creating Android apps is in the hands of developers, who are the ones who decide not only what the application looks like or how it works, but also on which devices they can be installed. This is done using some control panel tools that they have in the Play Store.
For example, It is possible to ask the store not to allow installation on mobile phones with an Android version older than a specific version, or that it does not allow downloading the application on mobile phones with less RAM memory than the developer considers necessary to have a good experience with its program.
Screenshot on a Samsung mobile in Europe
In other words, the reason why the message “Your device is not compatible with this version” always appears is because the developer decided so. It’s not a problem with the cell phone, with the Internet connection or with another element. The development company simply decided that the specific terminal we are using should not be able to use this application or game.
How to install these apps
In theory, incompatible applications do not appear in the search engine when they are prohibited for a mobile phone. For example, if you import a smartphone from China, even if you have the Google Play Store installed, when you search for Netflix it will not appear. Of course, if from a link we get to the application file, this message will appear, indicating that it cannot be installed on this device. In this specific case, because the company has not certified that its application works well on this specific device, because Netflix is not available in China.
Screenshot on a Samsung mobile in Europe
But This does not mean that many of these applications cannot be installed if we directly obtain the APK file, for example in stores like Uptodown or APKMirror. We must search for the application in question and download the version prepared for the device we are using.
Normally there are several versions of the same application, not only because there are updates, but because not all mobile phones use the same type of processor. Knowing the type used by our model, it is possible to download this APK and install it easily.
