APK & DEX Fundamentals
Anatomy of an APK
An APK is a ZIP-based package containing application components and metadata. Important artifacts include AndroidManifest.xml, resources, assets and compiled code.
- AndroidManifest.xml describes components and permissions.
- resources.arsc stores compiled resource information.
- classes.dex contains Dalvik/ART bytecode.
- lib/ may contain native libraries for supported ABIs.
- META-INF contains signing-related metadata in common APKs.
Authorization
Only analyze applications you own, have permission to inspect, or intentionally provided for a training lab.
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