Will the app still be on my old device?

Question

So recently a favorite app of mine has been taken down from Google Play Store. But even though the app is no longer available on Play Store, it is still on my phone and tablet (both from Samsung company) and works perfectly fine on both of my devices. Also, when I go to 'My Apps and Games', I still see the app on 'Library' and 'Installed' options.


I'm aware that in order for my favorite app to function properly, I must ignore software updates on my devices. Hence, I've been ignoring software update notifications ever since.


But what I really want to know is that, will I be able to install the app from 'Library' on a new device from Samsung or any other company even when it is no longer in Play Store? Or doing so will cause the app to malfunction across all my devices? Will the app still be safe on my old devices?


— CS2020 | Sources

Answer

If an app developer removed the app from Google Play Store this does not change anything for device which have the app already installed. Google only discards apps from devices if the app is known to behaving malicious (and may be if the app is violating some Google [business] rules, but I am not sure about that). Therefore your favorite app will stay on your old device unless you device to delete it.


On a device you won't be able to install the app anymore. Therefore if you want to continue using the app on a new phone you have to extract it's APK(s) from the old device and install it/them on the new phone.


If you want to keep your favorite app I strongly recommend to you to backup the app now. However it may happen that the app is not compatible with the newer Android version of a new device or the CPU architectures supported by your new device (ABIs). In such a case you have to let the app go.


To backup an app I recommend to you not only backup the app but also the app data (if the app allows to do so). This can be done on a non-rooted device using Android Debug Bridge (ADB) using the command adb backup. See various posts here on Stackexchange on that topic.


The app APK itself can be retrieved by various file explorer tools. Extract the APK and save it to a secure location e.g. on your PC and/or an external flash drive.


— Robert | Sources

Q & A

Tablet says "SD Card Mounted"
Voice typing -how to continue dictation in new line without restarting microphone?
Backup with root and restore without root
Current leaks while charging. Is the device defective?
How can I enable dictation in Android messaging (texting) apps?
Android slowness
Tasker to programmatically uninstall apps
ADB commands to get the adb version of mobile phone
How can I view other people's calendar in Microsoft Outlook for Android?
How to install Magictricks from recovery mode?
Possibilty to flash a TWRP/CWM on a smartphone that doesnt have custom recovery?
Can't create a primary, not a logical partition in SD Card
Where does android store the missed/incoming/outgoing calls?
Is there a way to take low resolution pictures on Android?
How to remove a stored user name and password in Wifi Connection Settings?
Scripting app that can listen on notifications
What does this crescent shaped icon mean and do?
How to get camera and gallery working for android 5.1
Phones that can have bootloaders unlocked
How to get to Torch on Moto G / Marshmallow 6.0.1

Topics

2D Engines   3D Engines   9-Patch   Action Bars   Activities   ADB   Advertisements   Analytics   Animations   ANR   AOP   API   APK   APT   Architecture   Audio   Autocomplete   Background Processing   Backward Compatibility   Badges   Bar Codes   Benchmarking   Bitmaps   Bluetooth   Blur Effects   Bread Crumbs   BRMS   Browser Extensions   Build Systems   Bundles   Buttons   Caching   Camera   Canvas   Cards   Carousels   Changelog   Checkboxes   Cloud Storages   Color Analysis   Color Pickers   Colors   Comet/Push   Compass Sensors   Conferences   Content Providers   Continuous Integration   Crash Reports   Credit Cards   Credits   CSV   Curl/Flip   Data Binding   Data Generators   Data Structures   Database   Database Browsers   Date &   Debugging   Decompilers   Deep Links   Dependency Injections   Design   Design Patterns   Dex   Dialogs   Distributed Computing   Distribution Platforms   Download Managers   Drawables   Emoji   Emulators   EPUB   Equalizers &   Event Buses   Exception Handling   Face Recognition   Feedback &   File System   File/Directory   Fingerprint   Floating Action   Fonts   Forms   Fragments   FRP   FSM   Functional Programming   Gamepads   Games   Geocaching   Gestures   GIF   Glow Pad   Gradle Plugins   Graphics   Grid Views   Highlighting   HTML   HTTP Mocking   Icons   IDE   IDE Plugins   Image Croppers   Image Loaders   Image Pickers   Image Processing   Image Views   Instrumentation   Intents   Job Schedulers   JSON   Keyboard   Kotlin   Layouts   Library Demos   List View   List Views   Localization   Location   Lock Patterns   Logcat   Logging   Mails   Maps   Markdown   Mathematics   Maven Plugins   MBaaS   Media   Menus   Messaging   MIME   Mobile Web   Native Image   Navigation   NDK   Networking   NFC   NoSQL   Number Pickers   OAuth   Object Mocking   OCR Engines   OpenGL   ORM   Other Pickers   Parallax List   Parcelables   Particle Systems   Password Inputs   PDF   Permissions   Physics Engines   Platforms   Plugin Frameworks   Preferences   Progress Indicators   ProGuard   Properties   Protocol Buffer   Pull To   Purchases   Push/Pull   QR Codes   Quick Return   Radio Buttons   Range Bars   Ratings   Recycler Views   Resources   REST   Ripple Effects   RSS   Screenshots   Scripting   Scroll Views   SDK   Search Inputs   Security   Sensors   Services   Showcase Views   Signatures   Sliding Panels   Snackbars   SOAP   Social Networks   Spannable   Spinners   Splash Screens   SSH   Static Analysis   Status Bars   Styling   SVG   System   Tags   Task Managers   TDD &   Template Engines   Testing   Testing Tools   Text Formatting   Text Views   Text Watchers   Text-to   Toasts   Toolkits For   Tools   Tooltips   Trainings   TV   Twitter   Updaters   USB   User Stories   Utils   Validation   Video   View Adapters   View Pagers   Views   Watch Face   Wearable Data   Wearables   Weather   Web Tools   Web Views   WebRTC   WebSockets   Wheel Widgets   Wi-Fi   Widgets   Windows   Wizards   XML   XMPP   YAML   ZIP Codes