How to view the contents of an Android APK file?

Question

Is there a way to extract and view the content of an .apk file?

Check out [android-apktool](http://code.google.com/p/android-apktool/). — Macarse, Aug 30 '10 at 10:27

DonGru · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-21T18:03:10.997

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Actually the apk file is just a zip archive, so you can try to rename the file to theappname.apk.zip and extract it with any zip utility (e.g. 7zip).

The androidmanifest.xml file and the resources will be extracted and can be viewed whereas the source code is not in the package - just the compiled .dex file ("Dalvik Executable")

edited Feb 21 '21 at 18:03

answered Aug 30 '10 at 09:29

DonGru

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The dalvik file can be converted to jar using dex2jar utility and then can be opened by any java decompiler tool. – Nikhil Jain May 15 '21 at 09:58

score 50 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 11 '17 at 18:40

50

It's shipped with Android Studio now. Just go to Build/Analyze APK... then select your APK :)

answered Jun 11 '17 at 18:40

TienLuong

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score 22 · Answer 3 · edited May 11 '15 at 18:52

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While unzipping will reveal the resources, the AndroidManifest.xml will be encoded. apktool can – among lots of other things – also decode this file.

To decode the application App.apk into the folder App, run

apktool decode App.apk App

apktool is not included in the official Android SDK, but available using most packet repositories.

edited May 11 '15 at 18:52

Kirk

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answered Jun 15 '14 at 12:27

Jens Erat

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You have to add `-o` to the command, otherwise, it thinks `App` is an input file, reporting the error: "Input file (App) was not found or was not readable". Proper command: `apktool decode App.apk -o App`. – Mr. Goldberg Nov 18 '20 at 13:02

score 12 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 06 '16 at 10:13

There is also zzos. (Full disclosure: I wrote it). It only decompiles the actual resources, not the dex part (baksmali, which I did not write, does an excellent job of handling that part).

Zzos is much less known than apktool, but there are some APKs that are better handled by it (and vice versa - more on that later). Mostly, APKs containing custom resource types (not modifiers) were not handled by apktool the last time I checked, and are handled by zzos. There are also some cases with escaping that zzos handles better.

On the negative side of things, zzos (current version) requires a few support tools to install. It is written in perl (as opposed to APKTool, which is written in Java), and uses aapt for the actual decompilation. It also does not decompile attrib resources yet (which APKTool does).

The meaning of the name is "aapt", Android's resource compiler, shifted down one letter.

score 9 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 17 '21 at 14:00

You have several tools available:

Aapt (which is part of the Android SDK)

$ aapt dump badging MyApk.apk
$ aapt dump permissions MyApk.apk
$ aapt dump xmltree MyApk.apk

Apktool

$ java -jar apktool.jar -q decode -f MyApk.apk -o myOutputDir

Android Multitool
Apk Viewer
ApkShellext

Dex2Jar

$ dex2jar/d2j-dex2jar.sh -f MyApk.apk -o myOutputDir/MyApk.jar

NinjaDroid

$ ninjadroid MyApk.apk
$ ninjadroid MyApk.apk --all --extract myOutputDir/

AXMLParser
```
$ apkinfo MyApk.apk
```

Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com · Answer 6 · 2020-04-18T15:48:14.633

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unzip my.apk

This does the trick from the Linux command line since the APK format is just a ZIP file on the top.

edited Apr 18 '20 at 15:48

answered Oct 31 '17 at 08:26

Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com

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score 8 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 23 '18 at 12:20

4 suggested ways to open apk files:

1.open apk file by Android Studio (For Photo,java code and analyze size) the best way

2.open by applications winRar,7zip,etc (Just to see photos and ...)

3.use website javadecompilers (For Photo and java code)

4.use APK Tools (For Photo and java code)

score 3 · Answer 8 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

3

There is a online decompiler for android apks

http://www.decompileandroid.com/

Upload apk from local machine

Wait some moments

download source code in zip format.

Unzip it, you can view all resources correctly but all java files are not correctly decompiled.

For full detail visit this answer

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

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answered Dec 03 '14 at 06:23

Zar E Ahmer

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score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 29 '18 at 04:37

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In case of Hybrid apps developed using cordova and angularjs, you can:

1) Rename the .apk file to .zip
2) Extract/Unzip the contents
3) In the assets folder you will get the www folder

answered Jun 29 '18 at 04:37

Kailas

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score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 19 '17 at 08:55

Depending on your reason for wanting to extract the APK, APK Analyzer might be sufficient. It shows you directories, and file sizes. It also shows method counts grouped by package that you can drill down into.

APK Analyzer is built into Android Studio. You can access it from the top menu, Build -> Analyze APK.

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 11 '16 at 11:30

You can also use Jadx - https://github.com/skylot/jadx. I have used all the tools mentioned in this page and found that Jadx works the best. The manifest file and other class files are converted to readable format as much as possible by this tool.

PS - http://www.javadecompilers.com/apk also uses the jadx decompiler to do the same work online. Simpler if you want to unarchive a single apk.

Cheers!

Sunggyu Kam · Answer 12 · 2019-02-28T10:22:20.260

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The APK Scanner can be show the information of APK file on PC.
also, can be pull an apk file from the android device.
And can be link to other tools.(JADX-GUI, JD-GUI...)

enter image description here

edited Feb 28 '19 at 10:22

answered Feb 28 '19 at 07:34

Sunggyu Kam

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cbelwal · Answer 13 · 2018-05-20T16:48:12.510

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You can also see the contents of an APK file within the Android device itself, which helps a lot in debugging.

All files including the manifest of an app can be viewed and also shared using email, cloud etc., no rooting required. App is available from:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dasmic.android.apkpeek

Disclaimer: I am the author of this app.

edited May 20 '18 at 16:48

answered May 20 '18 at 16:42

cbelwal

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Feb 09 '23 at 08:31

0

I opened it with peazip after I couldn't rename file extension.

answered Feb 09 '23 at 08:31

gary maloney

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How to view the contents of an Android APK file?

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