Block reference / App Management

Install app

Install an app from an .apk on this computer, from the APK library, or from Google Play.

Only inWarpX Phone

Install app puts an app on the run's phone from one of three places: an .apk file on this computer, the APK library in WarpX Phone's Settings, or Google Play on the phone itself. The library and Play are asked by package, and do nothing when the phone already has the app at the newest version they offer. To install only when an app is missing, as part of opening it, Start app can do the same.

With Google Play, by package, WarpX opens Play on the app's page and presses Install, then waits until the app is on the phone.
The Install app block's settings, filled in as in the example below.

Settings

From

An .apk file on this computer installs one file you name. The APK library, by package installs the library's newest file for a package. Google Play, by package installs it from Play on the phone.

ExampleGoogle Play, by package
Packagewhen From is The APK library or Google Play

The app, by its package name, such as com.shopee.vn. As you type, the field suggests the apps on the phone picked in the editor's toolbar, the apps phone farms run most (typing zalo finds com.zing.zalo) and the packages the workflow already names; tick System apps in the list to include built-in ones. What you type is kept as typed, so a reference such as {{loopData.package}} works too.

Exampleorg.telegram.messenger
Update it when the library's is newerwhen From is The APK library or Google Play

With the library, replaces an older version on the phone with the library's newer one. With Google Play, presses Play's Update when it offers one. Off, an app already on the phone is left as it is.

ExampleChecked
APK on this computerwhen From is An .apk file on this computer

The full path of one .apk file. It is installed over an older copy of the same app, keeping its data. It can hold a reference such as {{variables.apkPath}}.

ExampleC:\Apps\shopee.apk
Delay (ms)

A pause after the block finishes, before the next block starts. Write one number such as 1000, or a range such as 1000,3000 to pick a random pause in that range on each run.

Example0

Every block also has the shared block settings — a description, Disable block and what to do on an error. Fields that take text accept data from earlier blocks.

What it hands on

Hands on what was done as {{prevBlockData}}: installed, updated or none (already there) from the library or Play, and installed from a file. Leaves by its single output.

Example: Install Telegram from Google Play

  1. Start
  2. Install app
  3. Start app
Where Install app sits in the example workflow.
  1. Make sure the phone is signed in to a Google account and has the WarpX agent (the Devices page installs it).
  2. Add an Install app block and set From to Google Play, by package.
  3. Type telegram in Package and pick Telegram (org.telegram.messenger).
  4. Add a Start app block with the same package to open it once it is installed.
  5. Run the workflow and watch the phone: Play opens on Telegram's page, Install is pressed, and the run carries on when the app is there.

Good to know

  • A file must end in .apk and weigh at most 1 GB. It must hold the whole app: for an app split over several APKs (.apks, .xapk), put it in the APK library instead.
  • An .apk older than the version on the phone, or signed by someone else, fails with INSTALL_FAILED and the package manager's reason.
  • From the library, a package the library has no file for fails with APP_NOT_INSTALLED, saying which folder it searched or that no library is set.
  • The APK library is a folder on this computer, set in WarpX Phone's Settings. Drop .apk, .apks or .xapk files into it, or into folders one level down; each file is known by the package inside it, not by its name, and the newest version of a package wins. An app split over several APKs is installed in one go. Files over 1 GB are skipped.
  • Google Play is driven on the phone: WarpX opens the app's page in Play, presses Install (or Update) and Accept, and waits up to 10 minutes for the package to appear. It needs the phone signed in to Google and the WarpX agent, and takes free apps only. Play's answers fail the block by name: PLAY_SIGNED_OUT, PLAY_PAID, PLAY_NOT_AVAILABLE (not for this phone), PLAY_UNAVAILABLE (no Play Store on the phone), PLAY_INSTALL_FAILED and PLAY_TIMEOUT.
  • A workflow that was not edited on this computer (from the Appstore, a file or the assistant) asks you to allow this block before its first run, in a window that lists what it will do. Blocks you set up in the editor are approved as you edit them, so your own workflows never ask; changing the block's settings asks again.
  • There is no Device field: the block acts on the run's phone — the one picked in the editor's toolbar, or each phone ticked for Run automation in the Control Center or named in an API run.

See also

  • Start app — Open an app by its package, installing it first if the phone has not got it.
  • Is app installed — Answer whether an app is on the phone: true or false.
  • Uninstall app — Remove an app from the phone, with or without its data.
  • Restore — Put a backup made by Backup back on a phone.