How to Sideload apps on Blackberry 10

Do you know that many popular apps involve sideloading?  What is sideloading? It is taking a downloaded .BAR file, mainly an Android port or a beta copy of a new app and then installing it on your PlayBook or BlackBerry 10 device using a PC and USB cable.  This seems to be a bit complicated. But there is another simple method to do it and is easy to do with minutes of time. And it not only works on the BlackBerry PlayBook but also the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10.

To get started you’ll obviously need to be using Google Chrome. If you don’t have it then go download it.

Install the Chrome extension

Go to Chrome Web Store and search PlayBook App Manager (PlayBook App Manager can be used on many different PC OS platforms whether Windows or OSX).

Once you find the extension install it into Chrome. After it installs it will open a page in Chrome — bookmark it.

Enable Development Mode

Enable development mode on your device. Open the ‘Settings’ then scroll down and press Security and Privacy.

You will find the development mode at the bottom

In Development Mode, press where it says ‘Off’ to turn it on.

Enter Password

Once you turn it on, you will be prompted to enter  a password.  You can use device password as it makes it easier than trying to remember two different ones.

After it is enabled, you will see the IP address that you will need to connect to your device from the computer, so write it down.

Connect to your PC

Connect your device to your computer and open Chrome. Make sure that your device drivers are already installed on the computer, or you will not be able to proceed further.  Once in Chrome, click the URL bar and type in “https://your.ip.goes.here” as an example https://169.254.0.1.

The first few times you might get a warning within Chrome stating that ‘The Site’s Security Certificate is Not Trusted’, ignore that and click proceed anyway.

Log to PlayBook

Next it will ask you for your password (the one you chose when entering Development Mode). Once logged in, this screen will appear.

 

Press Install

 

To load a new program, press “Install” in the top right hand corner. A pop up will appear where you chose which one you would like to add to your device.

From there, PlayBook App Manager give you a little progress bar upon start of install.

 

 

And once complete, it tells you it was successful.

If you chose to delete your sideloaded apps, you can remove them from within PlayBook App Manager.

Just find the one you want to remove and press “Uninstall”.

Once you restart your device after being in Development Mode, you will need to re-enable it using the steps above, and with the same password.