APKTool – A Tool for Reverse Engineering Android APK Files

APKTool is a tool for reverse engineering 3rd party, closed, binary Android apps. It can decode resources to nearly original form and rebuild them after making some modifications; it makes possible to debug smali code step by step. Also it makes working with app easier because of project-like files structure and automation of some repetitive tasks like building apk, etc.

• Windows:
• Download Windows wrapper script (Right click, Save Link As apktool.bat).
• Download apktool.
• Rename downloaded jar to apktool.jar.
• Move both files (apktool.jar & apktool.bat) to your Windows directory (Usually C://Windows).
• If you do not have access to C://Windows, you may place the two files anywhere then add that directory to your Environment Variables System PATH variable.
• Try running apktool via command prompt.

• Linux:
• Download Linux wrapper script (Right click, Save Link As apktool).
• Download apktool.
• Rename downloaded jar to apktool.jar.
• Move both files (apktool.jar & apktool) to /usr/local/bin (root needed).
• Make sure both files are executable (chmod +x).
• Try running apktool via cli.

• Mac OS X:
• Download Mac wrapper script (Right click, Save Link As apktool).
• Download apktool.
• Rename downloaded jar to apktool.jar.
• Move both files (apktool.jar & apktool) to /usr/local/bin (root needed).
• Make sure both files are executable (chmod +x).
• Try running apktool via cli.

Note: Wrapper scripts are not needed, but helpful so you don’t have to type java -jar apktool.jar over and over.

How to Build APKTool from Source

APKTool is a collection of 1 project, containing sub-projects and a few dependencies.

• brut.apktool.lib – (Main, all the Library code)
• brut.apktool.cli – The cli interface of the program
• brut.j.dir – Utility project
• brut.j.util – Utility project
• brut.j.common – Utility project

• First clone the repository.
• git clone git://github.com/iBotPeaches/Apktool.git
• cd Apktool
• For steps 3-5 use ./gradlew for unix based systems or gradlew.bat for windows.
• [./gradlew][gradlew.bat] build shadowJar – Builds Apktool, including final binary.
• Optional (You may build a Proguard jar) [./gradlew][gradlew.bat] build shadowJar proguard

After build completes you should have a jar file at:
./brut.apktool/apktool-cli/build/libs/apktool-xxxxx.jar

Windows Requirements

Windows has some limitations regarding max filepath. At one location in APKTool, there is a 218 character directory path which means due to the limitation of max 255 characters on Windows we need to enforce some requirements.

This leaves 37 characters total to clone the project on Windows. For example, we can clone this project to the location.

This is 31 characters, which allows APKTool to be cloned properly. Cloning the project into a directory longer than 37 characters will not work.