Nokia Windows Phone

Download Windows Phone Apps (XAP & APPX Files) to PC

Microsoft has recently merged the Windows Phone and Windows store. The manual download options seems no longer available and hence this post stands irrelvant going forward. We will update the post if things change.
Although it will still take Windows Phone to reach close to Android or iOS in terms of Market Share, it definitely is the fastest growing mobile ecosystem these days. As it grows, there are more better and graphic intensive apps being delivered to the Windows Phone store to meet up the requirements of the users. If you don’t have access to WiFi, downloading these big apps will be a big pain as Windows Phone does not allow downloading of big apps over Cellular Data connection. If you own a Windows Phone device, you can download the apps to your PC and then transfer them to the phone.

Downloading apps from Windows Phone Store to the PC

Windows Phone store allows the users to directly download the app packages from the store. This is made possible as unlike Android where apps can be side-loaded without using Play Store, the apps on Windows Phone are still required to be installed by logging into a Microsoft Account. Follow the steps below to download the app XAP (or the newer APPX) files to your PC.

  1. Open WindowsPhone.com/en-us/markets
  2. Choose the country in which you are located. If you choose a different country, some apps which are exclusive or are modified to suit your location will not be available. Some apps will also refuse to install on your phone if the regional settings on your phone do not suit the one required by the app.
  3. Sign in to your Microsoft account by hovering over Explore in top right and selecting Sign in. You can skip this step, but then some apps will be unavailable for downloading.
    signin and search windowsphone
  4. Once signed in, search for the required app by entering the search term into the search box at top right. (Refer to previous image)
  5. On the results screen, click on the app best suited to your search query.
  6. Once on the specific page of the app, scroll down and look for an option called ‘Download and install manually‘ in the left sidebar.
    Download XAP windows phone
  7. Click on it and save the XAP/APPX file hence delivered. That XAP or APPX file is all you need to install the app on your phone.

Further reading: How to transfer and install this XAP file on a Windows Phone Device

55 Comments

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  • Can anyone help me please…
    After signing with my Microsoft account also I can’t find download option.

    • It’s gone now, buddy. It was there when the store resided on windowsphone.com. But it is not available since Microsoft unified and shifted it to microsoft.com domain 🙁

    • Microsoft has recently merged the Windows Phone and Windows store. The manual download options seems no longer available and hence this post stands irrelvant going forward. We will update the post if things change.

      ..
      SEE AT THE TOP DUDE.

      • (I see only 5 of 46 responses, and it seems I have to reply instead of making an own response)

        This seems as crappy as ever. “Windows app” remains ambiguous, and Windows 10 apparently is unable to execute a Windows Phone app. Microsoft apparently does not consider it important for new OS versions to support the installed base of apps,

    • Go to three dots , on the right top of the corner . There you will see My library option. Open it and go to All owned option ,then install and launch.

  • I dwnlded xap file from Browser and I cannot install xap file in my phone. But appx apps are working. Can u give any tip to dwnld appx file frm browser…?

  • My windows phone 8 cannot play music or videos,it can’t open store…when you click a video to play it starts loading and doesn’t finish…what should I do?

  • Mujhe windows phone application ki setup files chahiae.woh mujhe kaise milegi
    please help me
    or iphone or blackberry ki bhi apps ki setup files bhi chahiae

  • windows phone has its native graphics with usage of low memory (with 512 mb ram). available with desktop convergence which cant be done using android. android really going down, because its taken by everybody and nobody know about updates will be there for their customized piece of android.

  • windows phone sucks its the worst phone i ever bought , nothing works properly latest update of windows is worst than android 2.3 . I hate myself that I thought windows would be a good choice .

  • Just Downloaded Asphalt game of 900MB.. now app got updated from asphalt… Silly app says update to play!! Need i download the app again waiting for another half an Hour..? Useless security measures from Microsoft!! Instead of paying more money to ISP’s i can Buy a Android instead!! DIE MICROSOFT!! DIE LUMIA!! DIE WINDOWS PHONE!! Totally useless…

  • fucking microsoft removed this option, now I can’t install larger games because my wifi broke and they don’t let me download larger games, even though I have free unlimited internet mobile from my ISP

  • Now the windows Website is changed. Please update where we can find the option download and install ??
    Thanks 🙂

  • The microsoft has changed his web page.
    ‘Download and install manually‘ option has removed from web page.
    i also face this problem.
    Please provide another option/way to download XAP file if any.

  • Well Microsoft Change their Website ;; There is no option for Download and install Manually in the left sidebar
    Really I Fredup of Microsoft

  • This article is ambiguous. It indicates how to download Windows Phone Apps to the PC. I followed your instructions exactly, all worked perfect EXCEPT for the fact there is NO “Option” to download and install manually (or a left sidebar for that matter) on my IE or Firefox browser.

    Am I doing something wrong? I’d like to download an XAP package for future deployment, however I am not finding this option anywhere.

    Regards,

    Michael

    • I’m sorry about that. As Windows 10 launch comes closer, Microsoft is making more and more changes to how the stores worked across devices. The Windows Phone store is now merged into the Windows Store and that answers why there is no option to download manually anymore. I’ll update the post soon if Microsoft still leaves no option to manually download after Windows 10 is officially out.

    • Yes, if you have updated it to Windows Phone 8.1 and have at least 1 XAP/APPX file (downloaded from store) placed in your phone.

    • brother i also have lumia 520 i have wifi and all things but the fact is that i forgot my xbox ID and my Family setup was to be on now i dont have any way do u know how to reset it(lumia 520)

    • This option to download XAP Files from windows store is not available now.. Microsoft have merged windows phone store with microsoft store.. Here we have got another option to switch to android now… Useless chages from microsoft makes windows phone to die ..!! Hate these unwanted security measures microsoft makes…!!

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