I have recently tested two Chinese devices (OnePlus 13 and Redmi K80 Ultra) with China ROM, thus without Google Apps but with Google Mobile Services (GMS).

The good thing about it is that I can uninstall 99% of the apps (even most system apps) and then freely choose what I want to use. For example, I install the Play Store and YouTube. No Gmail, no Google One, no Lens, etc.

I know of two options for getting the APK from the Play Store. Xiaomi for example has its own Mi App Store. The second option would be sites like Apkpure.

With such user uploads there's always the risk that the APK has been "edited." It's very small but possible. So I'd like to know if there's a way to get the APK directly from Google? For example extracting it from another device?

I have googled "download apk only" and various permutations without success, so here I am...

There are apps I want to install on my LineageOS 18.1 phone (Pixel 3a XL). (Assuming, of course that they will install without Google dependencies...)

Under no circumstances do I want to install ANY Google products on my LineageOS phone.

EDIT #1: No Google products means no GAPPs. GAPPs has all of the Google dependencies I am trying to avoid. (Unless I am misundertadning what GAPPs is...)

How do I get just the apk/xapk files from the Google Play Store, so I can transfer it to my phone and install it? (Assuming it will install without any of the Google dependencies, of course).

Thanks!