How to Add any App to Parallel Space in OnePlus

Sadique Hassan•Updated May 6, 2024

In this guide, we will show you the steps to add any app to the parallel app space on your OnePlus device. The Parallel Apps feature is among the most underrated features in the Android ecosystem. For the unawares, it allows you to create two instances of the same app. But both these instances would be completely isolated from one other.

The app’s data, settings, and other related features would be in complete isolation from one another. Whatever changes you make to one app won’t be reflected in the other one. So you could create two instances of WhatsApp, and log in to each of them via different phone numbers. Well, I don’t need to document the benefits that you could accrue from it. So with such a plethora of perks attached, many OEMs have baked their feature onto their OS.

And OnePlus has done the same with their OxygenOS. However, there’s a caveat attached- the apps that you could add to parallel space are limited in numbers. But there exists a tweak through which you could bypass this limitation. And this guide shall make you aware of just that. So without further ado, let’s check out the steps to add any app to the parallel app space in OnePlus OxygenOS.

Table of Contents

How Does This Tweak Work?

Well, it’s quite simple- we will be creating a new user profile with the ID “999” and then adding/installing apps to that profile. That ID will be completely different from your primary one and will even have its own Google Play Services installed [though not the Google Play Store- that is the reason why this guide came into existence in the first place!]. So now that you are aware of the working mechanism of this tweak, let’s put it to the test right away.

How to Add any App to Parallel Space in OnePlus

We have listed three different types of methods to get this job done. Go through each of them once and then try out the one that is in sync with your requirements.

METHOD 1: Via App Store

This is the shortest and best method out of the three. In this approach, we will be directly installing the app store to the second user profile so that you don’t have to take the help of the ADB Commands every time whenever you want to install an APK. Not only will this save time and effort, but it will also negate the need for the PC. If you are unsure regarding which App Store to download, then here are some of the best alternatives to Play Store that deserves your attention:

FDroid
APK Mirror
Amazon App Store
Aurora Store
UpToDown
Galaxy Store [Only for Samsung devices]

Once you have got hold of the desired APK file, let’s get started with the steps.

First off, download and extract the Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC.
Now download the desired App Store’s APK and transfer it to platform tools.
Then enable USB Debugging and connect your device to PC via a USB cable.
After that, type in CMD in the platform-tools folder address bar and hit Enter.
This will launch the Command Prompt. So type in the below command in it:
```
adb install --user 999 name.apk
```
Make sure that you replace the name with the name of the APK file accordingly.

The app store is now installed for that profile and if you now install any app via it, it will be installed just for that secondary user profile.

METHOD 2: Without App Store [Shorter Instructions]

First off, download and extract the Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC.
Now download the desired app’s APK file and place it inside the platform tools.
Then enable USB Debugging and connect your device to PC via a USB cable.
After that, type in CMD in the platform-tools folder address bar and hit Enter.
This will launch the Command Prompt. So type in the below command in it:
```
adb install --user 999 name.apk
```
Make sure that you replace the name with the name of the APK file accordingly.
The app is now added and installed to the Parallel Space and you may now use it.

METHOD 3: Without App Store [Longer Instructions]

STEP 1: Install Android SDK

First and foremost, you will have to install the Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC. This is the official ADB and Fastboot binary provided by Google and is the only recommended one. So download it and then extract it to any convenient location on your PC. Doing so will give you the platform tools folder, which will be used throughout this guide.

STEP 2: Enable USB Debugging

Next up, you will also have to enable USB Debugging on your device. This will make your device recognizable by the PC in ADB mode. So head over to Settings > About Phone > Tap on Build Number 7 times > Go back to Settings > System > Advanced > Developer Options > Enable USB Debugging.

STEP 3: Disable Verify Apps over USB

You will also have to disable the app installation’s verification over USB. This method is used to check all the apps that are being installed via ADB whether they are safe or not. As of now, since we will be dealing with the apps that are already installed on your device, so you may (or rather should) consider disabling them.

Another important reason to disable it is that if you don’t do so, then the Command Prompt will be stuck at the Performing Streamed Install message and you wouldn’t be able to proceed ahead. To do so, head over to Developer Options, scroll to the Debugging section, and disable the toggle next to Verify Apps over USB. Once done, you may move over to the next step to add the app to the parallel app space on your OnePlus device.

STEP 4: Verify ADB Connection

Connect your device to the PC via USB cable. Make sure USB Debugging is enabled.
Then head over to the platform-tools folder, type in CMD in the address bar, and hit Enter. This will launch the Command Prompt.
Type in the following command in the CMD window to verify the ADB Connection
```
adb devices
```
If you get the device ID [alphanumeric string] followed by the device keyword, then the connection stands successful.
However, if you have got the Unauthorized keyword, then check your device, you would have got a prompt, tap on Allow.

STEP 5: Get a List of Installed Apps

Let’s now bring up a list of all the installed app’s package names. For that, type in the below command and hit Enter.

adb shell pm list packages

Now copy the package name of the app that you wish to extract. Don’t include the package keyword, but copy everything after that. For example, in the case of WhatsApp, the package name will be com.whatsapp.

STEP 6: Find App’s Installation Location

Next up, we will have to get hold of the app’s installation directory, that is, the location where the app is present on your device. So use the below command syntax:
```
adb shell pm path app-package-name
```
For example, if you want to find the installation directory of WhatsApp, then the above command will transform to:
```
adb shell pm path com.whatsapp
```
You will now get the app’s installation directory, copy it (again, don’t copy the package keyword). As a reference, the directory of WhatsApp is:
```
/data/app/~~e7O6YcQWXUcWUnBc6tw_Tg==/com.whatsapp-87rSM6V1UxTK57PzTV16WA==/base.apk
```

STEP 7: Extract APK of Installed App

Finally, use the below syntax to extract the APK file of the installed Android app on your device:
```
adb pull path-of-app extraction-path
```
Replace path-of-app with the app’s location directory that you got from the above section. Then replace extraction-path with the path where you want this APK file to be placed.
As soon as you execute the above command, you shall get the associated APK file under the extraction path location. It will be named base.apk.
For example, if I take the WhatsApp installation directory that I got from Step 6 and assign the APK extraction location inside the platform-tools folder (which is installed in D:\platform-tools), then the above command transform to:
```
adb pull /data/app/~~e7O6YcQWXUcWUnBc6tw_Tg==/com.whatsapp-87rSM6V1UxTK57PzTV16WA==/base.apk D:\platform-tools
```

STEP 8: Add App to Parallel Apps Space in OnePlus

First off, make sure that the extracted app (base.apk) is placed inside the platform-tools folder. If that is not the case, then do so right away.
Then use the below syntax to add the app to parallel space on your OnePlus device:
```
adb install --user 999 app-location-and-name
```
In my case, the extracted app’s location is D:\platform-tools and the name of the app is base.apk. So the above command transforms to:
```
adb install --user 999 D:\platform-tools\base.apk
```
Once you execute the said command, you shall get the Performing Streamed Install message followed by Success [if you get stuck here, then re-check that the Verify Apps over USB option is disabled, as mentioned in STEP 3]. And with that, your task stands complete!

How to Install Multiple Apps at Once via Parallel Space

If you have to create two instances of numerous apps, then doing so one at a time by typing individual ADB commands for each app will end up taking ages. Therefore, a much better approach would be to combine all those commands into a single one so that all those apps get installed in one go. To carry out this task, checkmark the prerequisites from above [Platform Tools, enabling USB Debugging, etc], and then execute the below command [just replace app ‘name’ accordingly].

adb install-multiple --user 999 name1.apk name2.apk name3.apk

So this was all from this guide on how to add any app to Parallel Space in OnePlus. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution as soon as possible.

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