On Android, users aren’t restricted to downloading apps from the Google Play Store. They can easily sideload apps as and when needed. This allows users to install apps that aren’t available in the store, or that are ported versions of other apps. A lot of other similar modifications are possible on Android and in some cases, you need to have a certain app version for a modification to work. Here are three ways to find the app version for an installed app on Android.
Google Play Store
This works if the app in question is up to date, and you only need to find the app version. If you’re on an older version of an app, and an update for it is available in the Google Play Store, this method is not for you.
Open the Play Store app, and go to the app page in question. Each app has a brief description of what it does. Tap the ‘Read More’ option, and then scroll to the very bottom of the page to get the current app version.
App About Screen
A lot of apps include an About screen within the app itself that can tell you what version you’re running. Normally, you can access this screen by going to the app’s Settings. If the app doesn’t have a dedicated Settings screen, look for a button with an i on it. This most likely represents additional information about the app and may include the version number.
Settings App
If all else fails, there is always the Settings app. Open the Settings app and tap Apps & Notifications. You need to go to the list of installed apps on your device. This list is found in the Settings app however, it might be under a different section depending on your version of Android.
On the Apps list screen, tap the app you want to check the version number for. Scroll to the bottom of the app’s information screen and you will definitely find information regarding the app’s version. This works best for apps that have been sideloaded, and for older versions of apps that you’re still running.
We should mention that app versions are ultimately provided by the developer of the app. This holds true regardless of where the app came from i.e., the Google Play Store or somewhere else. Android simply reports the version given to the file you installed and in some rare cases, developers might not bother updating the app version. They may simply release a new APK file and not bother to update the version. This is a bad practice so it’s rare that you encounter it but it can happen with apps that you sideload.