Download .apk file Asp.net website using mobile browser

Satinder Singh / September 05, 2021 / 7 Comments

Overview: Here in this article I let you know how to download the .apk file from the Asp.net website (WebApplication) by using your android mobile browser. Recently in my project, there is one requirement where I have to download the .apk file hosted in my Asp.net Web application.

In my Asp.net web page for downloading an APK file (android app) I simply inserted a `button` control and set the respective app path (URL), it works fine when I use to download it from my computer.

But the problem comes when same I access it from my android phone browser it gives errors (Instead of 605 kb it only downloads 22kb ie only HTML content, not actual apk file).

So after a small research, i figured out the solution and it to simple here it is that by adding

mimeType="application/vnd.android.package-archive

Code to Download .apk file from asp.net website given as below:

Environment: My Application is hosted under Window server 2008r2 having IIS 7.

Following the steps, you can Download the .apk file.

Step 1: In .aspx page add hyperlink set navigateurl as file path

//*
<asp:HyperLink ID="lnkdwnload" runat="server" NavigateUrl="~/Application_Android/MyAndroidAppAame.apk">Download MyApp</asp:HyperLink> 
//*

Step 2: Web.config add mimeMap element under staticContent

//*
<system.webServer>
    <staticContent>
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".apk" mimeType="application/vnd.android.package-archive"/>
    </staticContent>
</system.webServer>
//*

Yeah, by adding mimemap in web.config file we are now able to download APK files from the android phone browser.

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