AutoAppInstaller

Automatically install apps from Play Store, RuStore, F-Droid and local folder on your Android smartphone using Appium

Known issues

• Google Play Protection may flag your choice and show the "unsafe app blocked" window, warning you that the application you are currently installing was created for an older Android version. This case is not handled by AppInstaller and it will break the process.
• Installations via RuStore are unreliable and frequently encounter issues.
• Local apps are being reinstalled. It's a bug.

How it works

The program uses Appium + UiAutomator2 driver and its dotnet-client to automate installation process.

First, it will install all local packages located in the 'local' folder within the working directory of this tool. File naming is important and should follow this format: appLabel-version-packageName.apk. Actually the main point is that the filename should be dash-separated string where the last part is the packageName and must end with .apk. Otherwise, the file will be ignored. Also, the program will not attempt to find local packages listed in the JSON array. If you want to install local packages, place them inside the local folder; you don't need to specify them in the JSON file. However, if you do specify them in the JSON file, this tool will only check if corresponding app is already installed on your system and increment a counter accordingly in the second part. Read next.
Second, it will iterate over the given array of AppInfo objects and open the corresponding app page in the specified app store, find the 'Install' button using the UiSelector locator and click it.
In case of the Google Play Store, that's all. The specified app will be downloaded and installed by the Play Store automatically. There's nothing to do anymore. However, in the case of the non-system app stores such as RuStore and Droid-ify (F-Droid), the Google Package Installer will prompt you each time to confirm the installation with a pop up window. This is the case for unrooted devices. Therefore, we need to wait for the download to finish first and then find the "Install" button again and click it. Listed stores anyway cannot download several apps simultaneously so you can leave your phone and have a cup of tea while installing apps. Required time depends on your app list, internet connection speed and smartphone performance obviously.

If your internet connection is very slow, you can increase timeout time when creating AppInstaller instance in the source code to make sure apps will be installed and not ignored because of timeout. Just pass the third parameter of the TimeSpan type to constructor. By default, the timeout is 1 minute. This means that if an download from, e.g., RuStore has not finished within 60 seconds, it will be ignored and not installed automatically. Also, it will break the process completely or partially.

Warning

Google is going to deprecate and remove UiCollection, UiObject, UiScrollable, and UiSelector support from the UiAutomator framework. This will render all -android uiautomator-based locators invalid, so please keep it in mind while using them or plan to use them in the future.

How to use

1. Follow the quickstart intro to install Appium server, driver and client
2. Create JSON file with an array of objects containing the following information about your apps: label, packageName and source, where source is an integer representing an enum value
3. Enable USB debugging on your phone and connect it to your PC. Check if it's available using adb devices command
4. Make sure that specified sources e.g. Play Store and RuStore are available and functional on your phone
5. Start the Appium server
6. Run this tool from the command line with your phone connected to PC

Display usage info

AutoAppInstaller.exe

Install apps from JSON file

AutoAppInstaller.exe listOfApps.json

Install apps from JSON file to the specific device defined by its id. It's useful when you have multiple devices connected to your PC because by default the program will use the first one from the adb devices list

AutoAppInstaller.exe listOfApps.json 5a954c87

Example of JSON file

[
  {"label": "Anytype",   "packageName": "io.anytype.app",                          "source": 0},
  {"label": "Aqua Mail", "packageName": "org.kman.AquaMail",                       "source": 0},
  {"label": "Okay?",     "packageName": "de.stollenmayer.philipp.Pop_1_1_Android", "source": 0},
  {"label": "Mir Pay",   "packageName": "ru.nspk.mirpay",                          "source": 1},
  {"label": "Markor",    "packageName": "net.gsantner.markor",                     "source": 2},
  {"label": "Droid-ify", "packageName": "com.looker.droidify",                     "source": 3},
  {"label": "RuStore",   "packageName": "ru.vk.store",                             "source": 3}
]

source field represents an enum value where 0 = Google Play, 1 = RuStore, 2 = Droid-ify (F-Droid), 3 = Local. Any other values will be ignored.

Purpose

I was curious if I could automate this process to avoid manually installing dozens of apps after a factory reset or ROM change. I know there are some backup apps that achieve a similar result. But I want the apps to be downloaded from the official stores if they are available there.

TODO

• Add check whether an app is already installed before opening its page in the store.
• Replace counters with the post-install test.

Useful links

• Appium 2 Beginner Tutorials by Raghav Pal
• Guide on UiAutomator Locator Types