How to view AndroidManifest.xml from APK file?

Question

Is it possible to view Androidmanifest.xml file?

I just changed the extension of the apk file to zip. This zip file contains the Androidmanifest.xml file. But I am unable view the contents of Androidmanifest.xml. It is fully encrypted.

How can I view the Androidmanifest.xml file?

Answer 1

Yes you can view XML files of an Android APK file. There is a tool for this: android-apktool

It is a tool for reverse engineering 3rd party, closed, binary Android apps

How to do this on your Windows System:

1. Download apktool-install-windows-* file
2. Download apktool-* file
3. Unpack both to your Windows directory

Now copy the APK file also in that directory and run the following command in your command prompt:

apktool d HelloWorld.apk ./HelloWorld

This will create a directory "HelloWorld" in your current directory. Inside it you can find the AndroidManifest.xml file in decrypted format, and you can also find other XML files inside the "HelloWorld/res/layout" directory.

Here HelloWorld.apk is your Android APK file.

See the below screen shot for more information:

Answer 2

aapt d xmltree com.package.apk AndroidManifest.xml

will dump the AndroidManifest.xml from the specified APK. It's not in XML form, but you can still read it.

aapt (Android Asset Packaging Tool) is a built in tool that comes with the Android SDK.

Answer 3

This is an old thread, but I thought I would mention, of your phone has root, you can view it directly on your phone using the root explorer app. You don't even have to extract it to see.

Answer 4

You can also use my app, App Detective to view the manifest file of any app you have installed on your device.

Answer 5

Google has just released a cross-platform open source tool for inspecting APKs (among many other binary Android formats):

ClassyShark is a standalone binary inspection tool for Android developers. It can reliably browse any Android executable and show important info such as class interfaces and members, dex counts and dependencies. ClassyShark supports multiple formats including libraries (.dex, .aar, .so), executables (.apk, .jar, .class) and all Android binary XMLs: AndroidManifest, resources, layouts etc.

Answer 6

The file needs to be decompiled (or deodex'd not sure which one). But here's another way to do it:

-Download free Tickle My Android tool on XDA: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1633333https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1633333
-Unzip
-Copy APK into \_WorkArea1\_in\ folder
-Open "Tickle My Android.exe"
-Theming Menu
-Decompile Files->Any key to continue (ignore warning)
-Decompile Files->1->[Enter]->y[Enter]
-Wait for it to decompile in new window... Done when new window closes
-Decompiled/viewable files will be here: \_WorkArea3\_working\[App]\