Installing an app from outside the Play Store
Android will warn you two or three times before it lets this app install. Those warnings are expected, and none of them means something was found wrong with the file — they are what Android says about any app that did not come from the Play Store. Here is each one, why it appears, and what to tap.
“This type of file can harm your device”
Your browser shows this the moment an .apk starts downloading. It says the same about every Android app file, before it has looked at anything: the sentence is about the file type, not about this file.
Tap Download anyway (or OK, depending on the browser).
“Not allowed to install unknown apps from this source”
When you open the downloaded file, Android stops and says your phone is not allowed to install unknown apps from this source. It is asking permission for the app you downloaded with — Chrome, Files, Samsung Internet — not for us.
Tap Settings on that dialog, turn on Allow from this source, then go back. The install continues where it stopped.
Play Protect: “unsafe app blocked” or “scan recommended”
This is the one that stops most people. Play Protect checks apps against Google’s catalogue of known software. This app is not distributed through the Play Store, so Google has no signature on record for it and it is reported as unknown — which the dialog phrases as though something was detected.
Tap More details, then Install anyway. If it offers to send the app to Google for scanning, either answer is fine.
So is it actually safe?
A fair question, and the honest answer is that you should not take our word for it. Every release publishes the fingerprint of the exact file we built. If the file on your phone has the same fingerprint, it is the file we published and nothing has been changed in between.
To check it on a PC, with the file downloaded there: certutil -hashfile StrategosBot.apk SHA256 on Windows, or sha256sum StrategosBot.apk on Linux and macOS.
Why is it not on the Play Store?
Google’s policy does not allow apps that automate another game, so this one is distributed directly instead — which is also exactly why Play Protect has no record of it. There is a separate page on where automation stands with the rules, worth reading before you start rather than after.
It installed. What now?
Open it and sign in to your account. The first launch starts 30 days of Pro, free — every feature unlocked, no card, nothing to cancel. When the month ends the app keeps working on the free plan, and you can pick a plan if you want the rest back.
One thing to do on day one, before you judge whether the bot works: stop your phone closing the app. Most phones shut down background apps on their own after a while, and that is the most common reason automation appears to “stop by itself”.
If something goes wrong
Play Protect gives me no “Install anyway” at all
Some phones hide it until you open the full dialog: tap More details first. If it is genuinely absent, open Play Store › your profile picture › Play Protect › Settings and turn off “Scan apps with Play Protect” long enough to install, then turn it back on. Leaving it off permanently is not a good trade.
“App not installed” and nothing else
Almost always an older copy already on the phone, signed with a different key — Android refuses to replace it. Uninstall the old one first, then install again. It can also mean the download was truncated: check the size is about 4 MB.
My phone is Xiaomi, realme, OPPO or vivo and it blocks more
Those brands add their own scan on top and may show a second, sterner warning, sometimes with a countdown before the button becomes tappable. The route is the same: open the details and continue. Afterwards, go straight to the power-saving settings — on these brands they matter more than anywhere else.
My antivirus flagged it
Mobile antivirus products flag unknown sideloaded apps by category, the same way Play Protect does. Check the fingerprint above against your copy: that tells you whether you have the file we published, which is the question an antivirus cannot answer for a package it has never seen. If the fingerprints do not match, do not install it and tell us on Discord.
It is still not working
Ask on Discord — say which phone and which Android version, that is usually enough to tell what stopped it. Or write to [email protected].