Database Users

apk CODE editing

I'm starting to develop new apps and I needed to learn to do a specific thing - and there are apps for the stuff I want..
is it possible to look at the code of an apk file and then write own by using the apk as a guideline? kind of like reverse engineering an application???
thanks in advance.

I don't think u can directly reach to the original java code through the apk.
I've read about "disassembling" though.
Try googling "baksmali" for more info on a pretty disassembler project.
Ofc it would be better if you tried to ask the original creator for some help. Easier for you and better for the "development idea"

How to go about modifying a widget app ?

Ok..i m aware that there are many threads and numerous posts explaining stuff like making your own app, editing an apk and so on but i hv this one app from market which shows information from a website. Its like how you have a quote for a day..its the same thing.
So this is app is a widget and it retreives the quote of the day from some website but the prob with this it it doesnt update the quote on itself..everytime i have to manually remove the widget and add it again for it to refresh the quote. there is a service which is running by the widget but it doesnt help at all...unless you don remove the widget and add it again to the homescreen it wont update...i have contacted the developer but he isnt responding..so i thaught about doing it myself.
basically i want to add a 'refresh' button onto the widget which will try sending the request to server and update the quote for the day.
I don want you guys to give me d coding or algorithm...i just want to know how do i go about accessing the code...i hv done programming in java but m new to android.
So firstly what should i do...rip the apk off so that i see all the files ? next what?
any specific file that i should be modifying...or some tinkering with the service file ?
i m a comp noob...so i just need steps on how to go abt modifying the apk..rest all the codes and methods to do it i will manage on myself..so i just need to know how to tear the apk and get to the main coding part...
all replies will be whole heartedly appreciated.
FYI : i m on android 2.2 usin it on htc evo but for now i will only be doing the testing of the app on an emulator..and i have access to only .apk file of that appliaction...nothing else.
Thanks ! Cheers !

Is it open source? because otherwise I'm pretty sure modding someone else's app is illegal. If it is open source you can download the source where ever it may be hosted or you could try using this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695701

New To theming

I am new to theming, and was just going to reach a kind hand out for some help... i can get into the framework and all but just missing some steps on how to put it all back together. any help would be appreciated, and if i am posting in the wrong location feel free to delete or move the post. thank you

Use winrar to open the framework-Res and mess with those files then just put them back in framework-Res with winrar.

Rel500 has a great themeing guide. Thats how I got started check it out and if you have any questions ill be glad to answer it for you
Hope that helped.....
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Search for a program called "Apk Manager"
Play around with your frameworks...
Soon you'll get the hang of it...and don't be afraid to ask around

Great thread. I'm in the exact same position. Looking forward to creating MY theme.

Anyone know what program to use to view/edit the xml files?

buru898 said:
Anyone know what program to use to view/edit the xml files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the apk must be de-compiled first (use Apk Manager for that)...then use Notepad++ to view/edit xml's..the re-compile using Apk Manager

Im still fairly new to the theming scene, but ive found a good place to start is by porting a theme, find a theme you like on another theme and port it to the vibrant teaches you quite a bit about theming minus creating images from scratch.
some essential apps i have found are:
gimp (for image editing)
apk manager
notepad++
of course android sdk for draw9patch and other android utilities
other programs i may be forgetting.
Ive heard cs5 and corel are really good for creating icons and the like but im a college student and dont have the cash for those kinda programs

shreddintyres said:
Im still fairly new to the theming scene, but ive found a good place to start is by porting a theme, find a theme you like on another theme and port it to the vibrant teaches you quite a bit about theming minus creating images from scratch.
some essential apps i have found are:
gimp (for image editing)
apk manager
notepad++
of course android sdk for draw9patch and other android utilities
other programs i may be forgetting.
Ive heard cs5 and corel are really good for creating icons and the like but im a college student and dont have the cash for those kinda programs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither do i

when using notepad++ I get alot of jiberish, how do I edit when the things the guides on xda tell you to search for arent in the xml code?

sorry about duplicate post but heres a pic

aamir123 said:
when using notepad++ I get alot of jiberish, how do I edit when the things the guides on xda tell you to search for arent in the xml code?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to decompile the apk using Apkmanager or apktool in order to view the xml in a readable format.
Ginger Clones of the World Unite!!! via the XDA App

aamir123 said:
when using notepad++ I get alot of jiberish, how do I edit when the things the guides on xda tell you to search for arent in the xml code?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to decompile the apk to edit the xmls.
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apk reverse engineering

Hello and congratulations for the forum.
I'm trying to recognize malware starting from static code android in particular in permissions.
When I try to decompile apps like WhatsApp unfortunately many strings are obscured, particularly getSystemService method arguments.
How can I do to make them readable?
thanks for your attention

How do you decompile?
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I use dex2jar to get source java code

It's illegal to do so

I am a researcher

How antivirus are developed without knowing virus signature?
We call it "Ethical hacking". Eg: SQL injection technique to assess security vulnerabilities of web app.
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there is not a way to decrypt string value in the source code please? Yes, this is for ethical hacking, of course

I want to catch whatsapp notification to analyze the text of the message in real time, for insert a routine I want to catch this event and I want decompile code

Franceso thought you would that little thanks button for supporting your views
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sure,
you can help me please?

This should be your answer:
dsgwords.blogspot.com/2013/03/android-runtime-class-loading.html?m=1#!/2013/03/android-runtime-class-loading.html
Also try decrypting input.jar in andriod services framework path
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practically to get the file. dex should I do
/ dx - dex - output = output.jar input.jar
and then use dex2jar and decompiler?
this way I can see all encrypted strings of WhatsApp?
Many thanks

This is what I wanted to do:
decompile WhatsApp
find the code snippet to send notification
before sending the notification to send the contents of the message to my program
and then send the notification normally
Do you think it possible?
When decompilo WhatsApp many strings are encoded in copdice source, this is my problem.

This in an example:
String[] arrayOfString = new String[2];
char[] arrayOfChar1 = "3&j&>;, =?&-` 3+z=><f]\027\003\027\[email protected]\013\036\034".toCharArray();
many many thanks

Good question. I have not tried decompile procedure. I wil refer my friend.
I suggest one thing. You compile a java piece of string code. Also a string array. Decompile and see. Then make apk. Decompile and see. You get difference then we see if we can apply any charcode standards like ascii.
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Please try below post friend
Did you try this:
http://androidorigin.blogspot.in/2011/02/dex-format-to-jar-format.html
Open Source
http://code.google.com/p/dex2jar/
http://code.google.com/p/smali/
and an example
http://code.google.com/p/smali/source/browse/examples/HelloWorld/HelloWorld.smali
Also I found string encrypters being used in java programs to defeat decompile or disassemble. Need to find out if whatsapp use any such algorithm like SHA. I leave it to you just research some more.
When I get time I will try for myself and let you know. Have official work thanks buddy.
(Mods please let me know instructions on posting outside urls or the rules pertaining to it.)
PS: Remember to use same java compiler version that used to compile whatsapp. After you get jar, you can check which version created edit.
To know go to:
jar file > Open with Winzip or WinRar (Any archiver Winrar preferred. Do not double click it will execute) -> META-INF directory -> MANIFEST.MF
You should see something like this
Manifest-Version: 1.0
Ant-Version: Apache Ant 1.6.5
Created-By: 1.5.0_08-b03 (Sun Microsystems Inc.)
Hope that helps.

Use dex2jar to convert the APK into a standard JAR file and then JD-GUI to view the source code. However if the application was compiled with proguard obfuscation then you will have a very hard time to understand the code.

Creating a modded apk

Hello everyone.
I'm trying to start to make some mods in some applications but I'm not sure where to start, mainly because i'm in Linux.
For Windows I know about dnSpy which allow us to decompile, edit, compile etc etc apk files!
Is there any applications for Linux to do the same job?

HorusEyE said:
Hello everyone.
I'm trying to start to make some mods in some applications but I'm not sure where to start, mainly because i'm in Linux.
For Windows I know about dnSpy which allow us to decompile, edit, compile etc etc apk files!
Is there any applications for Linux to do the same job?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
APK Studio :good:

guitardedhero said:
APK Studio :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I have already that application installed, but it keeps telling me that I should have some 3rd party applications in my "vendor" folder. What applications are those? I already tried to copy into that folde "adb" and also the applications that comes with APK Tool, but it still shows the same warning. And I cannot edit dll modules with APK Studio as I can with dnSpy!

HorusEyE said:
Ok, I have already that application installed, but it keeps telling me that I should have some 3rd party applications in my "vendor" folder. What applications are those? I already tried to copy into that folde "adb" and also the applications that comes with APK Tool, but it still shows the same warning. And I cannot edit dll modules with APK Studio as I can with dnSpy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use apktool and smali/baksmali...no studio needed. It is also a good idea to have old and new versions of smali/baksmali (I use 1.3.3 and 2.1.3) because some mods you download the smali files will be in old code format. So I smali them into classes.dex with the 1.3.3 and then baksmali with 2.1.3 to convert old code to new before merging with your apk.
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RealWelder said:
I use apktool and smali/baksmali...no studio needed. It is also a good idea to have old and new versions of smali/baksmali (I use 1.3.3 and 2.1.3) because some mods you download the smali files will be in old code format. So I smali them into classes.dex with the 1.3.3 and then baksmali with 2.1.3 to convert old code to new before merging with your apk.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, thanks
I have downloaded version 2.2.0 of smali and baksmali and also a zip containing (i hope, smali and balsmali) version 1.3.3 of the same application! Is there any basic tutorials to teach how to start with these applications?

apktool
https://youtu.be/1t5n8rR5hTE
Smali/baksmali
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1296802
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RealWelder said:
apktool
https://youtu.be/1t5n8rR5hTE
Smali/baksmali
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1296802
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, after I have decompressed/decompiled/whatever the apk file I need to edit a file that is a dll module! It has some like c# or so code. How can I edit these files, change them and compile the file again???? Some use dnSpy and when the dll file is opened, we can see a lot of code, functions and stuff. How can I do that without dnSpy because looks like there is no linux version of dnSpy.

HorusEyE said:
Ok, after I have decompressed/decompiled/whatever the apk file I need to edit a file that is a dll module! It has some like c# or so code. How can I edit these files, change them and compile the file again???? Some use dnSpy and when the dll file is opened, we can see a lot of code, functions and stuff. How can I do that without dnSpy because looks like there is no linux version of dnSpy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had to edit dlls. Are you trying to hack a game? Anyways, on windows I use Notepad++, but on Ubuntu I use Notepadqq.
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RealWelder said:
I've never had to edit dlls. Are you trying to hack a game? Anyways, on windows I use Notepad++, but on Ubuntu I use Notepadqq.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I was trying to create my own modded version of a game! I usually use Atom, but I already tried to open DLL files with Atom and it doesn't work!
Do I have that Notepadqq for Debian?

HorusEyE said:
Yes, I was trying to create my own modded version of a game! I usually use Atom, but I already tried to open DLL files with Atom and it doesn't work!
Do I have that Notepadqq for Debian?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I`ve been trying to figure out why do you want to "create a modded apk" and according to your last post , you`re trying to bypass functionalities of an original game
This kind of thread / discussion isn`t allowed on XDA according to rule 6
6. Do not post or request warez.
If a piece of software requires you to pay to use it, then pay for it. We do not accept warez nor do we permit members to request, post, promote or describe ways in which warez, cracks, serial codes or other means of avoiding payment, can be obtained or used. This is a site of developers, i.e. the sort of people who create such software. When you cheat a software developer, you cheat us as a community.
Thanks for understanding
Thread closed