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APKTool: A tool for reverse engineering Android APK files

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Re: APKTool: A tool for reverse engineering Android APK files

#11

Post by joenathanone »

longnguyen wrote: post #9

APKTool is amazing. I used it to reverse engineer an old version of Netflix to allow it running on my Xiaomi projector. I no longer need it now as the projector is now Netflix-certified but it was incredibly useful to me in the earlier days. If your devices support Widevine L1 but not certified to run Netflix, you could use this little patch. https://github.com/longseespace/netflix_patch

I used to use this to decompile the Netflix app and others to allow screen rotation back when Android tablets were brand new and unsupported.

Edit, found the thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rotation-lock-removal-req...

Re: APKTool: A tool for reverse engineering Android APK files

#12

Post by elliottcarlson »

yasoob wrote: post #5

APKTool is amazing! I wrote an article on how to do end-to-end reverse engineering of Android apps using APKTool: https://yasoob.me/posts/reverse-engineering-android-apps-apk... I love using Jadx ( https://github.com/skylot/jadx ) to get a better understanding of the code in Java and then use APKTool to reverse engineer, decompile and recompile the app If you are interested, Frida is also an amazing tool that makes c…

I wrote a script a few years back to automate decompiling, and weaving in code in to an APK, then recompiling it using a recipe type structure -- https://github.com/elliottcarlson/Otto -- kind of abandoned it sadly, but figure it's worth sharing in case anyone has value in it.

Re: APKTool: A tool for reverse engineering Android APK files

#14

Post by mmastrac »

elliottcarlson wrote: post #12
yasoob wrote: post #5

APKTool is amazing! I wrote an article on how to do end-to-end reverse engineering of Android apps using APKTool: https://yasoob.me/posts/reverse-engineering-android-apps-apk... I love using Jadx ( https://github.com/skylot/jadx ) to get a better understanding of the code in Java and then use APKTool to reverse engineer, decompile and recompile the app If you are interested, Frida is also an amazing tool that makes c…

I wrote a script a few years back to automate decompiling, and weaving in code in to an APK, then recompiling it using a recipe type structure -- https://github.com/elliottcarlson/Otto -- kind of abandoned it sadly, but figure it's worth sharing in case anyone has value in it.

You might like the work the guys at Fullstory are doing. When I worked there on the mobile product, we were basically doing this professionally.

Re: APKTool: A tool for reverse engineering Android APK files

#15

Post by [deleted] »

iotku wrote: post #10
yasoob wrote: post #5

APKTool is amazing! I wrote an article on how to do end-to-end reverse engineering of Android apps using APKTool: https://yasoob.me/posts/reverse-engineering-android-apps-apk... I love using Jadx ( https://github.com/skylot/jadx ) to get a better understanding of the code in Java and then use APKTool to reverse engineer, decompile and recompile the app If you are interested, Frida is also an amazing tool that makes c…

This looks like a pretty decent write up at a quick glance, thanks! I've been toying around in the space a little bit (primarily around patching stuff to get past https pinning) but I've been meaning to get a better understanding on how stuff works rather than just throwing darts at the wall.

[deleted]

Re: APKTool: A tool for reverse engineering Android APK files

#16

Post by eixiepia »

yasoob wrote: post #5

APKTool is amazing! I wrote an article on how to do end-to-end reverse engineering of Android apps using APKTool: https://yasoob.me/posts/reverse-engineering-android-apps-apk... I love using Jadx ( https://github.com/skylot/jadx ) to get a better understanding of the code in Java and then use APKTool to reverse engineer, decompile and recompile the app If you are interested, Frida is also an amazing tool that makes c…

This is the best article on Android app reverse engineering I have read. Thanks.

Some more details on this step would be nice:

> I currently have an iPhone so I installed the Android Emulator on my Linux machine and install the app on that. Then I launched mitmproxy and started intercepting the traffic from the emulator.

Is this also the emulator from Android Studio? It would be very nice to intercept app traffic, without the need for a real device, but I have never been able to get it working.

Re: APKTool: A tool for reverse engineering Android APK files

#17

Post by pfyra »

deadclementine wrote: post #6
martythemaniak wrote: post #3

APKTool is so great. Earlier versions Android were way more loose with everything, there were tons of undocumented APIs, permissions weren't granular, didn't map to things that well, etc. 2012-2013 I wrote a parental control app for Android that "locked" down the device so you could give it to your kid and it would only run what you wanted it to run for however long you wanted, like "30 mins of games per day". To do…

Do you still have the code for this app? I was thinking of making something similar.

Have a look at "Family Link". It is not perfect, but it can limit usage of apps and the whole device to specific times (and more).

Re: APKTool: A tool for reverse engineering Android APK files

#18

Post by deadclementine »

pfyra wrote: post #17
deadclementine wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you still have the code for this app? I was thinking of making something similar.

Have a look at "Family Link". It is not perfect, but it can limit usage of apps and the whole device to specific times (and more).

I have used family link, it's kind of all or nothing deal. I want the ability to define block schedules.

I want to be able to put some sort of delay when opening time wasting website so that it is not as addictive.

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