Facebook probably got the best deal of the decade when it acquired WhatsApp Inc. for approximately 19.3 billion US dollars in 2014.
The social networking powerhouse is now reapingwell from the chat service that has managed to attract over a billion downloads. As at February 2016, WhatsApp reported a user base of over one billion active monthly subscribers.
WhatsApp stands out with the simplicity in which it delivers its features and itscompatibility with several platforms. Unlike some messaging services that only work well on newer high-end smartphones, the chat client operates even in places with relatively poor cellular data networks as well support for phones running on older operating systems.
Sharing files is one of the major features the service offers, the app has the ability to share images, videos, GIF files, contact, location, PDFs, audio files and docs, among others. However, capability to share APK files or apps for that matter has not been added yet. However, no need to worry anymore for we’ve got you some tweaks around it.
How to send
- Go to file manager on your smartphone
- Find the APK file of the app you want to send
- You will see the app’s name has an extension apk, erase that and replace it with either text or doc (e.g. operamini.apk to operamini.text/operamini.doc)
- Long press the app until you see an option to share then select share via WhatsApp
- Choose the contact you want to share with
- Hit Send
How to install
After you have sent the file the receiver will follow the procedure below to install:
- Download the app in WhatsApp
- Go to file manager
- Find WhatsApp folder navigate to media then documents
- You will find the file with extension doc/text, rename it by replacing the doc/text with apk
- Proceed to install
Now you know how to share an app through the popular messenger. The most intriguing bit of this tip is the fact that your receiver can be anywhere and still receives the file. Remember, most sharing apps operates on a narrow bandwidth, the connection is maintained for a certain distance.
Since the messenger was created in 2009 by frustrated former Yahoo employers Jan Koum and Brian Acton, innumerable updates have been pushed to it. The app is normally updated to add new features along bug fixes.In fact, WhatsApp for Android is one of the most updated app in Google Play Store.
The other good news for WhatsApp users is the addition of video calling. Now you can place video call along with voice call from within the chat service. The feature has been launched for everyone on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The biggest advantage with WhatsApp video calling is the support for cross-platform unlike Apple’s FaceTime that only operates on iPhones. Besides, the calls are protected by default end-to-end data encryption to deny authorized persons access to your messages.
Get WhatsApp from Google Play Store, Windows Store or App Store and join hundreds of millions of other subscribers in the most popular chat service.