When I google [reverse engineer android app], I get pages like
https://www.rsaconference.com/writa...guide-to-reverse-engineering-android-apps.pdf
or
http://www.technotalkative.com/part-9-reverse-engineering-android-applications/.
They recommend downloading several tools, such as apktool, smali, java decompiler, dex2jar.
Why did they not recommend Android Studio? Can't Android Studio be used to reverse engineer or simply inspect an app's code?
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UPDATE: What I want to do is to check out an app's code and see if I can make minor changes for myself (e.g. changing color of background). If "reverse-engineer" can't do this, please let me know what the right term is.
Using android studio you can create project or import projects with source codes but there is no way to extract source code if you have only .apk file. Android studio is not used for Reverse Engineering.
Unity Dev said:
Using android studio you can create project or import projects with source codes but there is no way to extract source code if you have only .apk file. Android studio is not used for Reverse Engineering.
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thank you for your reply. Could you suggest any software to use for reverse engineering (seeing source code)?
Use apktool, it decompiles an apk and you can use any text editor (like Notepad++ or Sublime Text) to edit the files. Then you can recompile it again using apktool and then just sign it and you're done.
Related
I want a way to open xap files as a project in Visual Build or Expression Blend.
I tried renaming xap to zip and opened the file to get a bunch of Dlls and xaml and xml files.
I want to open them in VB or Expression Blend to be able to make slight changes to the file.
please help.
P.S. i basically want to embed a font which is not included in Windows Phone. all i get while viewing the font is many small rectangles.
At MSDN ( http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Fo...cts-in-vb-or-expression-blend?forum=wpdevelop ) they told that they don't allow reverse engineering while they themselves don't give the fonts for the 4th most spoken language in the world for WP7 devices.
adeen-s said:
I want a way to open xap files as a project in Visual Build or Expression Blend.
I tried renaming xap to zip and opened the file to get a bunch of Dlls and xaml and xml files.
I want to open them in VB or Expression Blend to be able to make slight changes to the file.
please help.
P.S. i basically want to embed a font which is not included in Windows Phone. all i get while viewing the font is many small rectangles.
At MSDN ( http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Fo...cts-in-vb-or-expression-blend?forum=wpdevelop ) they told that they don't allow reverse engineering while they themselves don't give the fonts for the 4th most spoken language in the world for WP7 devices.
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First: which app do you want to reverse engineer? Store apps are encrypted and you cannot open and/or modify them!
If you have a xap compiled from a dev (for local testing and dev-unlocked-phones) you might get also the source code without problems by asking the dev. Otherwise you could use programs as Telerik JustDecompile, which supports xap files.
gipfelgoas said:
First: which app do you want to reverse engineer? Store apps are encrypted and you cannot open and/or modify them!
If you have a xap compiled from a dev (for local testing and dev-unlocked-phones) you might get also the source code without problems by asking the dev. Otherwise you could use programs as Telerik JustDecompile, which supports xap files.
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i would not call it reverse engineering as i do not want to even view the source code .
all i want is a way to embed a custom font in the application.
if you want i can send you the xap and the font to be added if you want to help me.
I don't think you have any concept what "embed a custom font in the application" entails. This is not a simple thing that you are asking for.
I run APK Studio 2.03 and can disassemble and re-compile ok on a Windows 7 platform. Great job!
But I would like to re-create a project for the target APK, either in Eclipse/ADB or preferably, in Android Studio. I have tried several associated tutorials, but cannot seem to locate one that matches the tools I use.
Can anyone point me to a more-recent tutorial using APK Studio to create a maintainable project?
I would appreciate any/all assistance with this. Thanks!
APK Studio 2.03
apktool 2.0.0-Beta
jd-gui 0.3.3
Eclipse Juno
Android Studio 1.1.0
I recently developed an app through android online developers and I received the apk. but my problem now is how to import the apk to android studio to be able to insert & implement my google admob for monitization of my app. Please, help me & good contribution needed. Thanks.
Angelica6 said:
I recently developed an app through android online developers and I received the apk. but my problem now is how to import the apk to android studio to be able to insert & implement my google admob for monitization of my app. Please, help me & good contribution needed. Thanks.
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apk file is already compiled so I don't think you will be able to edit the whole project just by importing it. You can open your file with WinRAR to retrieve a specific file and then edit it.
Dezash said:
apk file is already compiled so I don't think you will be able to edit the whole project just by importing it. You can open your file with WinRAR to retrieve a specific file and then edit it.
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Thanks Dezach; How do I find and modify a build.gradle file from the extracted file. I need to modify it before modifying manifest file for my admob integration process. Thanks
You need to have the sourse code. This cannot be done by simple open the apk with winrar or similar programs. You need to decompile the apk to have access to source code. There are a lot of tools for this job in Android section("development and hacking" and "software development"), but is better if you can get the source code from online developers.
Angelica6 said:
Thanks Dezach; How do I find and modify a build.gradle file from the extracted file. I need to modify it before modifying manifest file for my admob integration process. Thanks
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You can not do it. Gradle is a build tool. There are no gradle files in your .apk
Essayer avec Eclipse c la sollution
you can open as debug APK ( by android studio )
Hi guys !
I'm new to Android development, and I would like to edit an app to make a new theme (modifying res and fixing bugs)
I have succesfully decompiled it, but now, how can I open it in Android Studio ?
I've made some searches, but I can't understand if I need to create first a new project in Eclipse, import the sources and then import that project into Android Studio, or if Android can open the source code and generate a project by himself.
Can you help me ?
Thanks
hello,
I am a graduate student at Trakya University. I need a project for my courses. I'm thinking of building an Android-based project on mobile. I have an application that I like. How can I get a project file from an application file? How can I convert this? I want to get a project file that I can compile. I use Linux Mint as the operating system. I use Android Studio as an editor. I can see the inside of the Apk file.
Could you please help in this matter? I'm new to this. Thank you in advance.
Good wishes to work.