No, you do not need any paid account in order to compile an APK and install it on any number of devices. I could paste a link to an APK right here, and if you were visiting it from your phone, you could install it directly from that downloaded file.
This works on any number of devices.
You need a Google Play Developer account in order to distribute through the Google Play store, but you can directly install an application on an unlimited number of devices for free without ever signing up for an account. This is not possible on iOS without jailbreaking every phone.
This works on any number of devices.
You need a Google Play Developer account in order to distribute through the Google Play store, but you can directly install an application on an unlimited number of devices for free without ever signing up for an account. This is not possible on iOS without jailbreaking every phone.