AcMarket is an alternative app store where you can download applications, games, and other resources free of charge. It is quite similar to other stores like App Store and Google Play and there’s a huge database of apps and games to choose from.
One remarkable difference between ACMarket and other conventional app stores is that it offers both official and modified versions of various apps and games. ACMarket offers a huge database of modded apps.
These are apps and games that have been modified by third parties. These modifications allow users to get access to premium features offered by these apps for free. So, for instance, if you downloaded the modded version of Spotify on ACMarket, the app will not display any ads and you will be able to listen to high fidelity music, skip shuffle mode and access other premium features all for free.
Obviously, this isn’t legal which is probably one of the reasons many users are concerned about how safe the ACMarket store is. Also, there are some uncertainties about the store’s development itself. Many details about the store are unknown about the app such as its owners or when it started although some records say it’s the year 2018.
Due to these factors, concerns about the safety of apps downloaded from this store are legitimate. However, ACMarket seems to be a very safe app store. Installing this app and downloading apps from it should not infect your device with any malicious code or virus. Since the app gained mainstream popularity and in the few years it has been around, there have been no warnings or reports of bad practices of vulnerabilities by users of the platform.
The developers behind the platform claim that all apps and other contents uploaded on the platform are scanned to ensure that they are not security threats. Also, the ACMarket app itself does not request root permissions which means it cannot access sensitive settings on your device.
Although the ACMarket itself seems to be safe and legit, it is important to note that the apps, games, books, and other resources on this store are created by third parties. Many of these contents has been modified to circumvent some limitations. Hence, it is impossible to fully guarantee the safety of these content 100%.
Therefore, it is important to examine the footprint and permission request of apps you choose to install from this alternative app store. There are also legitimate unmodified apps on this platform as well with the added advantage that you can download their APK and have them stored locally on your device.
Generally, downloading and installing the ACMarket app itself does not seem to expose your device to any risk. However, you should be wary about the content that you download and install since there is no way to fully verify their safety.