Android · from our own server

Download BugNet

BugNet isn’t on Google Play. You download the app here, and it updates itself from the same place. Every update is checked against a checksum and our signing certificate before it installs.

The release details above are read live from our update server (release channel “stable”).

How to install an APK

1. Download the file with the button on this page, on your Android phone. Chrome may warn that “this type of file can harm your device”. That is a general warning for every app file that doesn’t come from an app store. Tap Download anyway only on this page.
2. Allow installing from your browser. Open the file. Android asks you to allow “Install unknown apps” for your browser (Settings › Apps › Special app access › Install unknown apps › Chrome › Allow from this source). The words differ a little between phone makers.
3. Install. Go back and tap Install. If Play Protect asks, you can choose to install anyway; BugNet has no ads and no trackers.
4. Switch the permission off again (optional, recommended). Turn “Allow from this source” back off for your browser. BugNet’s own updates ask you separately, inside the app.
5. Open BugNet. It checks for updates by itself from now on.

Check the download (optional)

The SHA-256 checksum is a fingerprint of the exact file we published. If even one byte is different, the checksum is completely different. Compare yours with the one shown above.

On a computer

Windows (PowerShell):

Get-FileHash .\bugnet-*.apk -Algorithm SHA256

macOS or Linux:

shasum -a 256 bugnet-*.apk

On the phone

Some file managers show a SHA-256 under the file’s details or properties. Copy it into the box here.

The signing certificate

Every BugNet release is signed with the same certificate, and Android refuses an update signed with a different one. The certificate fingerprint above is what tools such as apksigner verify --print-certs show as “SHA-256 digest”. The app also checks it before installing an update.