Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Extracting an APK file from an Android device
Apps that come preinstalled with the phone are stored in the
/system/app
directory.
Third-party applications that are downloaded by the user are stored in the
/data/app
folder. The following method helps you to gain access to the APK files on the device and
works on both rooted and non-rooted devices:
1. Identify the package name of the app by issuing the following command:
C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>adb.exe shell pm
list packages
package:android
package:android.googleSearch.googleSearchWidget
package:com.android.MtpApplication
package:com.android.Preconfig
package:com.android.apps.tag
package:com.android.backupconfirm
package:com.android.bluetooth
package:com.android.browser
package:com.android.calendar
package:com.android.certinstaller
package:com.android.chrome
...
As shown in the preceding command lines, the list of package names is displayed.
Try to find a match between the app in question and the package name. Usually,
the package names are very much related to the app names. Alternatively, you can
use the Android Market or Google Play to identify the package name easily. The
URL for an app in Google Play contains the package name as shown in the follow-
ing screenshot:
