How to copy and move Marine Navigator to new device

For those who use Marine Navigator (Play Store version) and wish to add it to a new tablet / phone, there is a quite simple way to do this.. even though it's not in the Play Store anymore. And it won't cost you !

The following points need noting:

You must already have an older tablet/phone with the PlayStore version of Marine Navigator installed and working. This method will not work otherwise.
The copy of Marine Navigator that you make will have the same attributes as the one you copied from.
You can make backup copies of the app and keep safely elsewhere.
The copy you install on your new tablet/phone will ONLY work if you have the same Google Account (as the donor) on the target device. ie: you can't copy and install on someone else's device.

The advantage of this method is that you know exactly where the copy of Marine Navigator came from..(your own device), and you are not downloading something off the internet that "could" have been tampered with.

OK there's an article that deals with this:

How to transfer old Android apps into a new phone - The Verge

Gives an overview of the process

However, THIS is how we did it here, and we can recommend this method:

From the PlayStore we installed something called "APK Extractor" . (There's lots on there, but we used this one by "meher"..it has a green logo.) It's free.
On starting this app, it lists all apps on the device.
Tap the Marine Navgator icon.
Dialogue box opens, choose "Backup"
It will create the APK and put it in a special folder it has made in your main storage. The folder is called "APK Backup". Use your File Manager app to check it's there. Do not tap at the newly created APK, your original Marine Navigator will still be there and working.

Now it's simply a matter of getting the new Marine Navigator APK from that folder and making backups of it somewhere safe. You could plug the device into Windows machine and copy it over. Or you could copy it to an external SD card

To install on the new target device, copy the APK over to it (via cable from Windows, or plug in the SD card you put it on), and tap at it. You will get warnings about installing from non PlayStore source. Allow.

It will be instaled, and you'll have your trusty Marine Navigator on your new tablet/phone. Make sure you have the SAME Google account on the new device as you had on the donor device, and that you are online. Open Marine Navigator.

Bingo ! all sorted.

Big thanks to Declan O'Sullivan for showing us this method.

The non PlayStore VMH version is coming soon for those who can't use this method.