
However, those that have done so are being greeted with a surprise. Nevertheless, plenty of people are installing Textra from third-party sources, largely to remove the ads that allow the software to be offered for free. Self-described as a “seriously beautiful, feature rich SMS and MMS app”, Textra SMS is a smash hit having been downloaded between five and ten million times according to Google. Case in point, Textra SMS from Delicious Inc. Strangely, not only do people pirate premium titles but they also pirate free software too.

With this option they lose the convenience of Google Play but gain the ability to install premium software without paying for it, potentially at the risk of malware.

Of course, millions of users prefer to bypass Google Play altogether by installing raw. Many Android users happily go through life without spending a penny on software, mainly because there are adequate free or ad-supported versions available for many top titles.

Millions of Android apps are downloaded from the Play Store everyday which is hardly a surprise given the huge choice and massive userbase of the Google platform.
