Research by cybersecurity firms and academic surveys highlights that APKs from unofficial sources are not 100% safe. For instance, APKPure was found to have been infected with a malicious module in 2021 that downloaded Trojans onto user devices.
Papers like "App store mining and analysis" describe the practice of extracting technical, customer, and business data from these repositories to understand software evolution. Not On Google Play Store Archives - APKsPure
If you are looking for a specific archived app, it is often safer to verify its digital signature against the original developer's key, as third-party stores like APKPure claim to do, though risks of manipulation remain. App store mining and analysis - ACM Digital Library If you are looking for a specific archived
Recent 2026 research, "AI-Driven Analysis of APK Features for Android Malware Detection and Classification," explores using AI to inspect large Android app repositories for sophisticated malware that might bypass standard checks. While no single paper bears that exact title,
Studies such as a Bachelor Thesis Project Evaluation of the Android Third-party Stores used tools to compare APKs from nine global third-party stores (including ones like APKPure) against official Google Play versions to identify security risks.
While no single paper bears that exact title, several academic studies analyze APK repositories like APKPure in the context of security and app availability: Research on Third-Party App Stores & APKPure