How to remove Google Ads from any APK
This tutorial will learn you how to remove Google Ads from any APK (app), the ads are a specific part in the source code that can can be removed easily without damaging the app.
Any ways, I encourage you to keep supporting the app developers by buying their apps. The outcome of this tutorial is made personal use only and you may not share (or even sell) the apps you cleaned from ads.
Requirements:
- Java 6/7 (JRE or JDK)
- APK Multi Tools
- ADB
Youtube Video:
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw-e2m_TBxA
Instructions:
Step 1. Download and install/extract all needed packages. (Install JRE/JDK 6/7 and unpack APK Multi Tool and ADB)
Step 2. Looking what apps you have installed on your phone to pull (make sure you're in debugging mode)
- In ADB folder, run adb.bat
- Enter: "cd data/app"
- Enter: "ls", now your apps will show up
- Copy an apk name by right clicking in the cmd window and click mark, then mark the text and right click again to copy
- Now terminate adb.bat by either pressing Control+C and enterying "y" or closing the window.
Step 3. Pulling the apk
- In ADB folder, hold shift and right click in an empty place in the folder (not on some file/folder) > Open Command window here
(or press windows key + r and enter cmd, now enter "cd C:\your\adb\folder\here")
- once in command prompt, enter: "adb pull /data/app/[right click > paste]"
- After pulling the apk it will appear in your ADB directory. Now copy the apk
Step 4. APK Multi Tools Setup
- In APK-Multi-Tool folder, open setup.bat
- Enter "3" and press enter
- Enter "00" and press enter to exit setup
- Browse to /place-apk-here-for-modding/ and press Control + V to paste your pulled apk
Step 5. APK-Multi-Tool Decompilation
- In APK-Multi-Tool folder, open script.bat and press enter
- Enter: "24" and press enter, now choose your apk, probably #1
- Enter: "9" and press enter to decompile your apk
- Browse to the /projects/apkname folder
Step 6. Removing the ads
- In APK-Multi-Tool\projects\apkname.apk folder, open the smali folder
- Then browse to the com folder and then to the google folder
- Now you will see a folder called ads. remove this folder.
Step 7. Compiling the apk
- In APK Multi Tool, enter: "12" to start compiling the apk
- When a new text dialog appears, enter: "3" and press enter
- When the "keep folder" question shows press enter
- Now your signed apk (without ads) can be found in the APK-Multi-Tool\place-apk-here-for-modding folder
- Copy the apk (with "signed" in front of the name) and paste it in the ADB directory
Step 8. Installing the result
- Select the apk and press F2 (or change name) to copy then name to the clipboard then press enter to discard the name change
- Now, hold shift and right click in an empty place in the folder (not on some file/folder) > Open Command window here
(or press windows key + r and enter cmd, now enter "cd C:\your\adb\folder\here")
- Enter "adb install [right-click > paste]"
- Now the app will successfully install! Enjoy!
Though I knew this already, COol!
Now let's see how those stupid ads can penetrate my Droid
Edit//
FIRST!!
Sent from my GT-I9001 using xda app-developers app
****ED GENIUS :good:
Sent from Galaxy Tablet
Thanks guys, soon I will reupload a new video which is recorded a bit slower and with more instructions
I use lucky patcher..
Inviato dal mio GT-I9001 con Tapatalk 2
jjaacckk94 said:
I use lucky patcher..
Inviato dal mio GT-I9001 con Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky patcher almost does this but I don't like another app for this simple thing. Its just bloatware for me.
Sent from my GT-I9001 using xda app-developers app
Very helpful for us.
Thanks :thumbup:
Sent from my Android Smartphone
jjaacckk94 said:
I use lucky patcher..
Inviato dal mio GT-I9001 con Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky patcher does it very bad, there is still empty ads window...
Added instructions, will upload a new more extended video later today
Thank you very much...
I will try it ^_^
Sent from my GT-I9001 using xda app-developers app
You can also use NinjaMorph to (de)compile the APKs.
shiro1811 said:
You can also use NinjaMorph to (de)compile the APKs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip, didn't know there was an app that could do that :good:
Very good tutorial Brood!!! But what if there is no smali folder in the apk? I saw that in some apps after decompiling there is not such a folder although there is ads in the application! Any ideas?
jimsiv said:
Very good tutorial Brood!!! But what if there is no smali folder in the apk? I saw that in some apps after decompiling there is not such a folder although there is ads in the application! Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I just discovered that the ad (service) in wordfreud (free) exists in EVERY folder inside the smali folder. And the ads can also exist in the resources it seems, just got noticed that this apk is 100% overfilled with ads in every possible way, making it even more fun to do xd
You're deleting the ads folder. Not every app might accept that without crashing or use the ad implementation like this. They could put the classes somewhere else as well.
The best way imho is still DroidWall (also available on Google Play) that simply disallows every app to connect to the internet. Also hosts files block these ads individually. I recommend mvps hosts file (search for "hosts.zip" on the site). Goes into /system/etc.
If you want to go even further you can install tcpdump on Android, capture the traffic (tcpdump -s 0 -w /sdcard/tcpdump.pcap) and eg. load it up with Wireshark to find any DNS requests you might want to manually add/insert into your hosts file. For long-time capturing you might want to limit tcpdump to port 53 or something similar.
can you please make a video that shows how to do this process SLOWER and with AUDIO?
edit: im just going to follow your written directions lol
hmm i am following the directions to the T and i am still getting ads in the apps. what gives?
Just use adaway. You can find it via google.
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9001 mit Tapatalk 2
XeLLaR* said:
Just use adaway. You can find it via google.
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9001 mit Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to use adaway because that app also blocks redirect links like with the app slickdeals. So I am trying to learn how to take the ads out of the app instead of using adaway. I used lucky patcher last night and it seem to work but I just want to learn how to manually remove it as well.
chinkster said:
I don't want to use adaway because that app also blocks redirect links like with the app slickdeals. So I am trying to learn how to take the ads out of the app instead of using adaway. I used lucky patcher last night and it seem to work but I just want to learn how to manually remove it as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app has a whitlist, you can add websites you dont want to get blocked.
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9001 mit Tapatalk 2
Related
I had a mod done to my widgetlocker apk , but i cant adb push it. Can someone please sign it for me so i can install using root explorer? Im not sure how difficult it is , so if its insanely hard or something im sorry for asking haha . Thanks .
Get apkmanager and it will sign it for you. Plus apk manager will let you decompile and recompile then sign so you can mod anything and it's a whole lot easier.
Sent from my Incognito Droid using Tapatalk
1. Add your JDK Directory to the Path variable (Right click on My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Environment Variables)
2. At the command prompt, navigate to the containing folder
3. keytool -genkeypair
4. jarsigner -verbose APPNAME.apk mykey
5. Push the signed app
sorry guys but im not real sure what a JDK directory is or anything. I didnt do the mod myself. i made a donation and had it done by someone on here. Once they returned it to me via email they told me to adb push it.. but i do not have any exp doing that and was hoping someone could help me out... there would be a nicely themed widgetlocker.apk in it for you haha
Different problem, same answer.
I have been trying to install a custom framework res for a while now. I am on a Mac. I simply have been changing ext to zip, unzipping, making changes, rezipping, using mv command in terminal to change to apk, and pushing to phone. It hasn't even kind of worked. Could someone please help? Are there any steps I'm missing? Do I need to sign the framework res apk?
Please help
lucas.scott said:
I had a mod done to my widgetlocker apk , but i cant adb push it. Can someone please sign it for me so i can install using root explorer? Im not sure how difficult it is , so if its insanely hard or something im sorry for asking haha . Thanks .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Post it or post a link to it and I'll sign it.
That said, if you modify one apk it is highly unlikely you will not modify others (which is a good thing). Therefore, I would highly recommend getting acquainted with the proper tools.
First you will need to install the Android SDK on your computer. Here is the link:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html Bear in mind that to use it you will also need to install the JDK (Java Developers Kit) on your computer but the links are in the instructions so it is very easy.
In addition to the SDK download 7zip if you do not already have it. It is a free archive utility that enables opening and editing the contents of archives without extracting them.
Lastly, if you just plan on editing images download Stericson's autosign tool so that once you finish changing images you can resign the apk which is necessary to install. However, if you want to delve a little deeper into apps I highly recommend Apk Manager. Not only does it include a signing tool but can also decompile apks so that you can do deeper editing.
dkdude36 said:
I have been trying to install a custom framework res for a while now. I am on a Mac. I simply have been changing ext to zip, unzipping, making changes, rezipping, using mv command in terminal to change to apk, and pushing to phone. It hasn't even kind of worked. Could someone please help? Are there any steps I'm missing? Do I need to sign the framework res apk?
Please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The framework-res.apk does not need to be resigned. In fact, there are few, if any, reasons why any system app would need to be resigned. Therefore, that should not be your issue.
That said, in the steps you listed above I see several areas which could problems so, it would be beneficial if you provided more information. Here are my initial comments:
1)When you are rezipping the apk are you recompressing the folder created when you unzipped the apk OR, are you selecting the contents of the folder (e.g. AndroidManifest.xml, res folder, etc. ) and compressing them? It is important to do it the second way I described.
2)No need to bother with the mv command as you are using it. Once you've rezipped the apk (it will likely be named Archive.zip) you will need to rename it "framework-res.apk" at which point you should only need to push the apk back to the phone. The process would go like this:
a)put modified framework-res.apk into the tools folder (located in the SDK folder)
b)open up terminal.app
c)type "cd " (without the quotes) and drag the tools folder located in the sdk folder into the terminal terminal window, and press Enter
d)type "./adb remount" (without the quotes) and press Enter
e)type "./adb push framework-res.apk /system/framework/" (without the quotes) and press Enter
f)type "./adb reboot" (without the quotes) and press Enter. (The phone will reboot which is necessary to see your changes)
g)Marvel at your accomplishment
Obviously, you should make a nandroid backup of your phone first so that in case you mess anything up you can restore it as if nothing happened.
If you have any more questions simply post them and I'd be happy to answer them. I bought and rooted my EVO the day it first came out which was before there were any Mac tutorials and have since become fluent in adb due to lots of trial and error.
could you possibly help me with my widgetlocker apk? i have adb pushed ( finally learned how to do that on mac) and it still wont install . have contacted ultralynx (he did the mod) but im not getting a response...thank you .
lucas.scott said:
could you possibly help me with my widgetlocker apk? i have adb pushed ( finally learned how to do that on mac) and it still wont install . have contacted ultralynx (he did the mod) but im not getting a response...thank you .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... If ultralynx did the mod for you it is probably already signed. I've seen some of his threads and he clearly knows what he is doing. And, signing is apk-modding-101.
Where did you ./adb push the widget locker to? /system/app/ or /data/app/? Adb push does not install the apk if you push to /data/app/
My recommendation would be to do the following:
1)Using root explorer, find and delete the widgetlocker.apk from wherever you adb pushed it on your phone. Exit out of Root Explorer.
2)Reboot phone
3)Confirm that you don't have any previously installed versions of WIdget Locker on your phone. From your home screen press the menu button and navigate to Settings-->Applications-->Manage Applications-->All and look for Widget Locker. If you find it select and uninstall it.
4)Assuming the modified widget locker.apk was signed you should not need to mess with adb. You certainly can but it is not necessary and I'd hate to confuse you with the commands. So... Instead, connect the EVO to your computer and mount as disk drive. Put the widget locker.apk you want to install on your sdcard. Personally, I would recommend creating a folder named Apps and putting it in there.
5)Unmount phone as disk drive and unplug phone from computer
6) Using any file manager (Root explorer is fine) navigate to the apk on your sdcard and select install.
If that doesn't work let me know
Found problem, need answer
okolowicz said:
The framework-res.apk does not need to be resigned. In fact, there are few, if any, reasons why any system app would need to be resigned. Therefore, that should not be your issue.
That said, in the steps you listed above I see several areas which could problems so, it would be beneficial if you provided more information. Here are my initial comments:
1)When you are rezipping the apk are you recompressing the folder created when you unzipped the apk OR, are you selecting the contents of the folder (e.g. AndroidManifest.xml, res folder, etc. ) and compressing them? It is important to do it the second way I described.
2)No need to bother with the mv command as you are using it. Once you've rezipped the apk (it will likely be named Archive.zip) you will need to rename it "framework-res.apk" at which point you should only need to push the apk back to the phone. The process would go like this:
a)put modified framework-res.apk into the tools folder (located in the SDK folder)
b)open up terminal.app
c)type "cd " (without the quotes) and drag the tools folder located in the sdk folder into the terminal terminal window, and press Enter
d)type "./adb remount" (without the quotes) and press Enter
e)type "./adb push framework-res.apk /system/framework/" (without the quotes) and press Enter
f)type "./adb reboot" (without the quotes) and press Enter. (The phone will reboot which is necessary to see your changes)
g)Marvel at your accomplishment
Obviously, you should make a nandroid backup of your phone first so that in case you mess anything up you can restore it as if nothing happened.
If you have any more questions simply post them and I'd be happy to answer them. I bought and rooted my EVO the day it first came out which was before there were any Mac tutorials and have since become fluent in adb due to lots of trial and error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help okolwoiz. I am fluent in adb and have been hacking for a while. I think I know the problem. The mod I was trying to theme (drop down notifications bar) is a .9.png, which means it is automatically resized to fit the phone. These are different than normal .png files. I know i need to use a draw9 something file in the sdk, but I don't know how. Any help would be great. Thanks
Dk
yeah i have tried all of that . It always just says "Application not installed" . No matter how i get it on the phone . ore than happy to send it to you to see if its the file or my phone .
Thanks this thread has helped me and I was just wondering through aimlessly.. And stumbled upon tis thread.
Sent from my netarchy_toast, froyo beast of a machine evo!
glad it helped someone haha
I need the .apk of the version of Google Maps before this new update came out.
I accidentally deleted it.
Thanks.
What happens if you try: Menu -> Settings -> Apps -> Manage Apps -> find Maps in the list and choose Uninstall updates ?
You can give this a try. I pulled it from my titanium backup that updated daily, and the manifest says that is is version 4.7.0.
It keeps saying install is failed.
I'm on Uber ROM, and I think maps is baked into it. Other people were having problems with it too.
I'll try a re-flash and post results.
Actually, a re-flash just wipes everything.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
Ok I see what you are working with now. Just follow the steps below
1. Download the file below, MAPS.sh
2. Place the file MAPS.sh into your gscript folder on your SD card
3. Open the program GScript
4. Press your menu key
5. Press the Add script button
6. Press Load file
7. Now select MAPS.sh from the available scripts
8. Make sure the box next to “Needs SU?” is checked
9. Press Save
10. Now press the MAPS script
11. A blue screen will come up, now give it a minute until it says success at the bottom of the blue screen.
12. Exit out of GScript
13. Go to your favorite file explorer
14. Find the Maps.apk file that you downloaded in my first post
15. Now the file should be able to install without any problems
16. You can now enter the Market and update
I installed the Uber Rom and tested all of these steps with success.
http://www.mediafire.com/?imwvec5s0tr7r9m
It gives me a failure message, saying that it can't find the file when gscript is doing its thing.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
dpwhitty11 said:
It gives me a failure message, saying that it can't find the file when gscript is doing its thing.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, that is fine it just means that you have already deleted a file that it is trying to delete. It also sets the file system to allow you to install the apk. Just run it all again but install the apk after it is done no matter what GScript tells you at the end.
It won't install.
Ok, so the story behind this mini-tutorial is that I upgrade their phones periodically, as part of the upgrade process I have to wipe the phones and a nandroid backup doesn't always work.
Titanium Back Up is another option, But sometime i really would like to extract the .apk files from the Apps downloaded from Market.
Hence, I had to figure out a way to extract the .apk files from my phone so I could install them on theirs.
Here's how it's done:
There are two ways of extracting .apk files from your device:
Using a file manager like "EStrongs File Manager" or "ASTRO File Manger" (downloadable from the Market), or
Manually extracting .apk files through the Android SDK.
Method #1 - Using a file managerPrerequisite: Rooted device
Using ES File Manager
1) Open ES File Manager
2) Click on the menu button of your device
3) Click on "Manager"
4) Click on "App Manager"
5) Long press on app you want to extract
6) Click on "backup"
7) Extracted .apk files will be placed on the "backups" directory of your sd card
Using ASTRO
1) Open ASTRO File Manager
2) Click on the menu button of your device
3) Click on "tools"
4) Click on "Application Manager/Backup"
5) Choose apps to backup and click on "backup" to finish
6) Extracted .apk files will be placed on the "backups" directory of your sd card
Method #2 - Using the Android SDK
Prerequisites:
- Rooted phone
- Android SDK
- Android USB driver
To extract a .apk file from your device using the Android SDK:
1) Plug your “Rooted” Android device into your computer via the included USB cable.
2) From your adb command line (usually C:\android-sdk-windows\tools\) type “adb shell“ and press enter
3) Switch to root user, type “su“ and press enter
4) type “cd data/app“ and press enter
5) List all the installed apk files, type “ls“ and press enter (find the one you want to extract)
In another command window, pull one of the files on to your computer by typing:
“adb pull /data/app/application.apk name.apk” and press enter
Example:
“adb pull data/app/com.mauri.aplikeishon.apk aplikeishon.apk”
You can find the extracted .apk files in the /tools/ directory of your SDK (usually C:\android-sdk-windows\tools\)
Man the Sensation General forum is on fire with good post right now, this is the third one I have read in 45 minutes. I would have hit the thanks button but I am out of thanks right now. I just hope people do not use this for piracy.
That will be really useful for me, but wouldn't it be easier to use App2zip?
T-Macgnolia said:
Man the Sensation General forum is on fire with good post right now, this is the third one I have read in 45 minutes. I would have hit the thanks button but I am out of thanks right now. I just hope people do not use this for piracy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah hope so.. :angel: :angel:
ridder215215 said:
That will be really useful for me, but wouldn't it be easier to use App2zip?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on ur choice and need boss..!! There are 100 ways to do a thing and i have mentioned three, and u mentioned 4th :victory:
This is my post!
This is MY POST! Some credit and a link to the original post would be the right thing to do. What a ****!
mauweb.net/3.0/en/technology/17-android/100-icon-androidextracting-apk-files-from-your-android .html
Super-Android said:
Ok, so the story behind this mini-tutorial is that I upgrade their phones periodically, as part of the upgrade process I have to wipe the phones and a nandroid backup doesn't always work.
Titanium Back Up is another option, But sometime i really would like to extract the .apk files from the Apps downloaded from Market.
Hence, I had to figure out a way to extract the .apk files from my phone so I could install them on theirs.
Here's how it's done:
There are two ways of extracting .apk files from your device:
Using a file manager like "EStrongs File Manager" or "ASTRO File Manger" (downloadable from the Market), or
Manually extracting .apk files through the Android SDK.
Method #1 - Using a file managerPrerequisite: Rooted device
Using ES File Manager
1) Open ES File Manager
2) Click on the menu button of your device
3) Click on "Manager"
4) Click on "App Manager"
5) Long press on app you want to extract
6) Click on "backup"
7) Extracted .apk files will be placed on the "backups" directory of your sd card
Using ASTRO
1) Open ASTRO File Manager
2) Click on the menu button of your device
3) Click on "tools"
4) Click on "Application Manager/Backup"
5) Choose apps to backup and click on "backup" to finish
6) Extracted .apk files will be placed on the "backups" directory of your sd card
Method #2 - Using the Android SDK
Prerequisites:
- Rooted phone
- Android SDK
- Android USB driver
To extract a .apk file from your device using the Android SDK:
1) Plug your “Rooted” Android device into your computer via the included USB cable.
2) From your adb command line (usually C:\android-sdk-windows\tools\) type “adb shell“ and press enter
3) Switch to root user, type “su“ and press enter
4) type “cd data/app“ and press enter
5) List all the installed apk files, type “ls“ and press enter (find the one you want to extract)
In another command window, pull one of the files on to your computer by typing:
“adb pull /data/app/application.apk name.apk” and press enter
Example:
“adb pull data/app/com.mauri.aplikeishon.apk aplikeishon.apk”
You can find the extracted .apk files in the /tools/ directory of your SDK (usually C:\android-sdk-windows\tools\)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maurinet said:
This is MY POST! Some credit and a link to the original post would be the right thing to do. What a ****!
mauweb.net/3.0/en/technology/17-android/100-icon-androidextracting-apk-files-from-your-android .html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for informing this ..and it was reported
OP has been notified.
Cheers big-ears!
Easier Method
Why not just use a root file manager and navigate to the file and copy it?
root>data>app
- tom
or just use Titanium Backup... haha
Some backup apps like Android Assistant also allows to create .apk from installed apps
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...wxLDEsImNvbS5hZHZhbmNlZHByb2Nlc3NtYW5hZ2VyIl0.
tnx dude
it was helpful for unrooted phones.
"Share apps" also do this
Mobogenie
Well years have passed and android has now embarked on the L journey but I recently saw this post and remembered i too had the need to backup the apps on my phone so I used a function of the desktop version of the mobogenie software.:good:
You can use my this tool to extract apk file
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andatsoft.myapk.fwa
Its very light and fast.
How to extract apk files in Android
Here's how I extract apk files in android:
1. Download and install APK Extractor in your device. It is free, and is compatible in almost all of the Android devices. Another plus point is it does not even require root or anything to work.
2. After you have it installed, launch it. There you will see a list of apps which are in your device, which include the apps you’ve installed later, along with the system apps. Long press any app you want to extract (you can select multiple or all apps at once), and click on the extract option you see in the top. You will also have the option to share via Bluetooth or messaging.
3. You’re done, you will see the extracted apps as AppName_AppPackage_AppVersionName_AppVersionCode.apk, which will be saved in the path /sdcard/ExtractedApks/ by default.
Related Posts
Source: http://appslova.com/how-to-extract-apk-files-in-android/
:cyclops:
Hi all,
so in IOS its pretty easy to duplicate an app.... but i search through the web for duplicating an app on android and i cant find any guides....
Therefore, any way to do that on android devices?
skylun said:
Hi all,
so in IOS its pretty easy to duplicate an app.... but i search through the web for duplicating an app on android and i cant find any guides....
Therefore, any way to do that on android devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What You mean by "duplicate" an app???
And what is the goal of do that ?
hi
EnricoD said:
What You mean by "duplicate" an app???
And what is the goal of do that ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i mean making 2 same apps in a single device.
My goal is just to play 2 accounts in a single game and in the same device.
skylun said:
i mean making 2 same apps in a single device.
My goal is just to play 2 accounts in a single game and in the same device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simultaneously on 2 different accounts or separately?
I have 3 solutions I can think of:
- To Play Them Separately -
Multi User on Android
Using 2 different backup apps and restoring them to the other when you want to change
- To Play Them Simultaneously -
You would need to decompile the apk of the app you want to clone (pull it from data/app then use something like APK Multi Tools or APKTool) and change the package name under AndroidManifest.xml, recompile, push to /SDcard and install as a normal app. Then you will have a second same app you can use with the other one at any time with it's own data.
Also : Dev/WrongSection
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
hi
sewer56lol said:
Simultaneously on 2 different accounts or separately?
I have 3 solutions I can think of:
- To Play Them Separately -
Multi User on Android
Using 2 different backup apps and restoring them to the other when you want to change
- To Play Them Simultaneously -
You would need to decompile the apk of the app you want to clone (pull it from data/app then use something like APK Multi Tools or APKTool) and change the package name under AndroidManifest.xml, recompile, push to /SDcard and install as a normal app. Then you will have a second same app you can use with the other one at any time with it's own data.
Also : Dev/WrongSection
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just did the first one... actually i have been studying on rooting few hours ago and just rooted my phone 10mins ago lol... just done making another profile, but your second option is more convenient than restarting my phone everytime i wanted to switch accounts....
any video guide that i can follow?
Quickly peeking over XDA I found this guide which is quite well explained for people who haven't decompiled an app before:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2341351
Steps 6-8 are unnecessary hence you're not modifying a System APP but is recommended anyway just for future use (and avoiding any problems - which shouldn't occur anyway).
Your app (assuming it's installed) should be under data/app (from root directory of the device, copy it from there to /sdcard/ and then to PC. (There are many file managers which have root access, ES File manager or Total Commander are recommended)
(Follow guide)
Once you decompile the app (will be under a folder called projects) there should be a AndroidManifest.xml in the root of the decompiled app folder, edit it (I recommend NotePad++ for many reasons, but WordPad/Notepad are still viable), the XML is in human readable format and is generally small so there should be no issues.
Somewhere there should be a package name (these 99% of the time start with com. and often include the developer name after it then the name of the app e.g. com.android.chrome or com.handlerexploit.tweedle), simply modify it to something different, save and go back to the guide to recompile.
After recompiling simply push the app back to the phone and install it through a file manager.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 PM ----------
Also seeing you have not probably used ADB you'd need the drivers for it (as well as USB Debugging enables in phone) for APK multi tool to pull system files if you decide to do Steps 6-8 (although unnecessary).
The tool here : http://www.wugfresh.com/nrt/ has easy to do instructions on installing drivers or if you know what you're doing grab the official driver here ( http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html ) and install in device manager if your device has no driver installed there. (Do Browse manually and point it to USB_driver directory)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Hi everyone,
There is a way to find the .apk of apps downloaded from playstore. ull need root and root browser, we will use here esfile explorer. open esfile explorer and press top left-->tools enable root explorer and show hidden files, then go to local-->device now go to file data-->app and thats it, to find system apps u can go to device-->system-->app.
Wiked dudes production
Pull Apk in Non-Rooted Device.
There is no need of a rooted device,
you can pull the apk by using following techniques.
//_______________________________________________________
A) Using ADB
1) Determine the package name of the app, e.g. "com.whatsapp" (WhatsApp).
if you don't know the package name, you have 2 options to get the package name
i) Visit play store and search for the desired application, The link of the app contains the package name. "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp" (WhatsApp) where com.whatsapp is the package name
ii) use command "adb shell pm list packages" , this will list the package name of all application installed.
2) Once you know the package name, get the apk installed path by using command "adb shell pm path com.whatsapp"
it will return the apk path of the application, like this
package:/data/app/com.whatsapp-2/base.apk
3) Now to pull apk, by using command "adb pull /data/app/com.whatsapp-2/base.apk"
Apk will be extracted to the same folder where adb is present
//_______________________________________________________
B) Using ESFileExplorer
1) Open ESFileExplorer and navigate to User Apps either by (swiping left to right twice) or (goto APP under Library in Navigation Drawer)
2) Select App you want to pull, and click on Share.
3) Share the Apk to another device via Bluetooth or to desktop via AirDroid,
shanrais said:
There is no need of a rooted device,
you can pull the apk by using following techniques.
//_______________________________________________________
A) Using ADB
1) Determine the package name of the app, e.g. "com.whatsapp" (WhatsApp).
if you don't know the package name, you have 2 options to get the package name
i) Visit play store and search for the desired application, The link of the app contains the package name. "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp" (WhatsApp) where com.whatsapp is the package name
ii) use command "adb shell pm list packages" , this will list the package name of all application installed.
2) Once you know the package name, get the apk installed path by using command "adb shell pm path com.whatsapp"
it will return the apk path of the application, like this
package:/data/app/com.whatsapp-2/base.apk
3) Now to pull apk, by using command "adb pull /data/app/com.whatsapp-2/base.apk"
Apk will be extracted to the same folder where adb is present
//_______________________________________________________
B) Using ESFileExplorer
1) Open ESFileExplorer and navigate to User Apps either by (swiping left to right twice) or (goto APP under Library in Navigation Drawer)
2) Select App you want to pull, and click on Share.
3) Share the Apk to another device via Bluetooth or to desktop via AirDroid,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ur right however, not all system apps are present using the second way, and first way is complicated for some people and might confuse them. if someone would want to change something he saw on google, that is connected to system apps or other stuff"like systemui" i think rooting and copying the apk from its directory is best. btw thanks for ur concern about this, believe it or not for the first 7 month i posted this it posted in android wear, and no one was commenting, i made it with the xda app, i think it has alot of bugs.
Lord_of_Death said:
ur right however, not all system apps are present using the second way, and first way is complicated for some people and might confuse them. if someone would want to change something he saw on google, that is connected to system apps or other stuff"like systemui" i think rooting and copying the apk from its directory is best. btw thanks for ur concern about this, believe it or not for the first 7 month i posted this it posted in android wear, and no one was commenting, i made it with the xda app, i think it has alot of bugs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO, if one is able to root the phone, then he will certainly not find any complication in pulling apk using first way.
shanrais said:
IMO, if one is able to root the phone, then he will certainly not find any complication in pulling apk using first way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u might be right bro but rooting is only downloading a file and flashing it through odin.