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Web DashboardApps5 min read

App Manager in the Web Dashboard

Open any browser on the same Wi-Fi network and get a desktop-grade app manager for your Android phone — sort by name, version, or install date, bulk-export APKs, and uninstall with a tap.

View mobile version

The Apps view in the web dashboard turns any laptop or desktop browser into a full package manager for your Android phone. Visit the URL shown in the PlainApp app (for example, https://192.168.1.50:8443/apps) from any browser on the same Wi-Fi network, and you'll see every installed package laid out in a sortable table with icons, versions, sizes, and install dates.

Because the dashboard runs as a static web app served directly from the phone, there's no cloud relay in the middle. Your browser talks to the phone over an encrypted TLS connection, and every action — search, sort, APK export, uninstall — is dispatched to the phone's PackageManager over that channel.

Screenshot: Apps
Apps

Key capabilities

  • Sortable app table — each row shows index, icon, name with version, package id, size, and type alongside installed and updated timestamps. Click a sort option in the top app bar to reorder by name, size, or modified date.
  • Sidebar filters with live counts — the left sidebar lists All, User, and System apps, each with a live count fetched from the phone. Click a filter to scope the table; the active filter is reflected in the URL.
  • Bulk APK export — select one or more rows with the checkbox column and click the download button in the top app bar. A single selection downloads the APK directly; multiple selections are zipped together on the fly.
  • Per-row uninstall and download — hover a row to reveal its action buttons: download the APK, or trigger an uninstall. Uninstall prompts you to confirm on the phone, and a spinner on the row tracks the uninstall state until the package is gone.
  • Drag-and-drop APK install — drag .apk files from your computer anywhere onto the Apps page. A drop mask appears; release to upload the files to the phone's downloads directory and trigger an install, with progress tracked in the uploads panel.
  • Search and pagination — the search box filters packages by name or id; the table paginates with a configurable page size and a select-all checkbox that handles the full result set even when it spans pages.

Walkthrough

  1. Open the Apps page from the left sidebar. The first time you visit, the table loads All apps with the total count shown in the top app bar.
  2. Filter by User apps — click User in the left sidebar. The table refreshes and the URL updates to /apps?q=<token> so the filter is shareable.
  3. Search for an app using the search box. The query is encoded into the URL, so you can bookmark or share a filtered view.
  4. Click a row's download icon to export that app's APK. The file downloads as <AppName>-<packageId>.apk to your browser's default download directory.
  5. Select multiple rows with the checkboxes (or select-all) and click the download button in the top app bar to bulk-export the APKs as a single zip.
  6. Uninstall an app by clicking its uninstall icon. The row enters an uninstalling state; confirm the prompt on the phone, and the row disappears once the package is removed.

Tips & tricks

  • Drag APKs to install: drop one or more .apk files anywhere on the Apps page to upload and install them. Non-APK files in the drop are ignored.
  • Sort via the top app bar: the sort icon opens a dropdown of sort options. The current sort is highlighted; picking a new one reloads the table from page 1.
  • Select-all across pages: the select-all checkbox offers a "select all N results" option when the result set spans multiple pages, with a clear-selection control to back out.
  • Bookmark a filtered view: the URL carries the active query and page number, so you can share a deep link like /apps?q=<token>&page=2 with anyone on the same network.

Privacy & security notes

  • The web dashboard is served over HTTPS with a self-signed certificate, with all traffic further encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305 layered on top of TLS.
  • The web dashboard binds to your local network only — it is not reachable from the internet unless you explicitly set up port forwarding.
  • Your browser will warn you the first time — accept the certificate to continue. The connection is encrypted with TLS; the warning is only about identity, not security.