ZIP to APK: turn a zipped website into an Android app

The one mistake that breaks ZIP to APK

When you right-click a folder and choose Compress, most systems put the folder itself inside the ZIP:

my-site.zip
└── my-site/          ← extra folder
    ├── index.html
    ├── style.css
    └── images/

The builder looks for index.html at the top of the ZIP, finds only a folder, and the app opens to a blank page. What you want is:

my-site.zip
├── index.html        ← at the top level
├── style.css
├── app.js
└── images/

To get that, open the folder, select everything inside it (Ctrl/Cmd + A) and compress the selection.

How to make the ZIP on each device

Windows

Open the folder, press Ctrl + A, right-click the selection, choose Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder (or Compress to ZIP file on Windows 11).

Mac

Open the folder in Finder, press Cmd + A, right-click and choose Compress N items. Rename Archive.zip if you like.

Android

In the Files app (or a file manager like ZArchiver), open the folder, select all files and choose Compress. Then pick that ZIP in the builder.

Build tools (React, Vue, Vite, Angular)

Run your build (npm run build), then zip the contents of the output folder — dist/ or build/. Set the base path to relative (for Vite: base: './') so asset URLs don't start with /.

Build the APK

1. Install HTML & ZIP to APK Builder and sign in once.
2. Choose ZIP and select your file.
3. Set the app name, icon, theme colour and package name.
4. Tap Build, then download and install the signed APK.

Pre-flight checklist

• index.html at the top level of the ZIP
• No paths starting with /, file:// or a drive letter
• File-name case matches exactly (Logo.png ≠ logo.png)
• No leftover junk: __MACOSX/, .DS_Store, node_modules/, source maps
• Total size under 5 MB (free) or 18 MB (Pro) — convert big PNG/JPG images to WebP

Our free HTML & ZIP APK checker opens the ZIP in your browser and checks all of this automatically. Nothing is uploaded.

"ZIP to APK" that isn't this

Some searches for "zip to apk" are about something else: renaming a .zip to .apk does not make an app — an APK needs compiled code, a manifest and a signature. And if you downloaded an APK that arrived as a ZIP, extracting it gives you the original .apk to install. If what you have is a website or HTML5 game, the builder is what you need.