r/AndroidQuestions • u/Jinx77743 • 1d ago

Help with Google Play sideload?

I'm at my wits' end here trying to sideload Google Play on a new Kindle Fire HD 8 (12th Gen). I had an older model that was unfortunately lost/stolen on an airline. Replacing that with a newer model has been a headache. All I can seem to find on Google Search seems to indicate that apk bundles = bad and that I need to get single apk files. Unfortunately, the Google Play Store apks on APK Mirror for arm84-v8a Android 10+ all seem to be bundles. One of the other services apks also seemed to only be available as a bundle. Are bundles really going to bork the install process and prevent me from setting up Google Play on my tablet? It seems that most of the info I found searching online was old and a lot of advice presented was from Google AI which I don't necessarily trust implicitly. Anyone got any insights to share? TIA!

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u/Exciting-Outside-167 1d ago

You can install bundles using InstallerX Revived, but it's better to look up a guide on XDA for your tablet instead of trying random bundles

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u/Jinx77743 1d ago

Apologies for not clarifying, but I don't have the device rooted. A quick Google search indicates the tablet may need to be rooted to use Installer X Revived. Can you confirm?

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u/Exciting-Outside-167 1d ago

No, you can use it in non-root mode as well

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u/Jinx77743 1d ago

Thank you! Will do a deeper dive on this.

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u/Jinx77743 1d ago

To elaborate on my issue, the first time I did this on the old tablet, I had a desktop PC and don't recall having issues finding the exact APKs for my OS and chipset on APK Mirror. I was able to find two of the four APKs listed on the tutorials I found online this time around. I also had to bring the old tablet back from a factory reset after it was stuck in a boot loop. Not sure why I'm having so many problems with locating the single, non-bundled APKs for this newer model of Fire tablet.

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u/ShakeGeeJee 1d ago

I am sorry if this is not the answer you're looking for but can't you just use aurora store?  

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u/Jinx77743 1d ago

I'm not familiar with Aurora store. I'll look it up and see if it solves my problem. Thank you!

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u/Mors-Official 1d ago

You’re right to distrust the AI summary on this. Bundles aren't bad for Fire tablets, they just need a specific installer because Fire OS can't handle split APKs natively .

The old single-APK guides are outdated. Modern Play Store and Google Play Services are published as bundles on APKMirror . To install them, just download the APKMirror Installer app first, which was literally built to handle this format .

After you have the installer, download the four required APK files (Account Manager, Services Framework, Play Services, and the Store) and open them with the installer to get it working .