How to sign an android apk file

Question

I am trying to sign my apk file  I can t figure out how to do it  I can t find good in-depth directions  I have very little programing experience  so any help would be appreciated

User · Answer

Here is a guide on how to manually sign an APK. It includes info about the new apk-signer introduced in build-tools 24.0.3 (10/2016)

Automated Process:

Use this tool (uses the new apksigner from Google):

https://github.com/patrickfav/uber-apk-signer

^{Disclaimer: Im the developer :)}

Manual Process:

Step 1: Generate Keystore (only once)

You need to generate a keystore once and use it to sign your unsigned apk. Use the keytool provided by the JDK found in %JAVA_HOME%/bin/

keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias app

Step 2 or 4: Zipalign

zipalign which is a tool provided by the Android SDK found in e.g. %ANDROID_HOME%/sdk/build-tools/24.0.2/ is a mandatory optimzation step if you want to upload the apk to the Play Store.

zipalign -p 4 my.apk my-aligned.apk

Note: when using the old jarsigner you need to zipalign AFTER signing. When using the new apksigner method you do it BEFORE signing (confusing, I know). Invoking zipalign before apksigner works fine because apksigner preserves APK alignment and compression (unlike jarsigner).

You can verify the alignment with

zipalign -c 4 my-aligned.apk

Step 3: Sign & Verify

Using build-tools 24.0.2 and older

Use jarsigner which, like the keytool, comes with the JDK distribution found in %JAVA_HOME%/bin/ and use it like so:

jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore my.keystore my-app.apk my_alias_name

and can be verified with

jarsigner -verify -verbose my_application.apk

Using build-tools 24.0.3 and newer

Android 7.0 introduces APK Signature Scheme v2, a new app-signing scheme that offers faster app install times and more protection against unauthorized alterations to APK files (See here and here for more details). Threfore Google implemented their own apk signer called apksigner (duh!) The script file can be found in %ANDROID_HOME%/sdk/build-tools/24.0.3/ (the .jar is in the /lib subfolder). Use it like this

apksigner sign --ks my.keystore my-app.apk --ks-key-alias alias_name

and can be verified with

apksigner verify my-app.apk

The official documentation can be found here.

User · Answer

APK Signing Process  To manually sign an Android APK file run these three commands    Generate Keystore file  keytool -genkey -v -keystore YOUR KEYSTORE NAME keystore -alias ALIAS NAME -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000  Sign Your APK file using jarsigner  jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore KEYSTORE FILE PATH UNSIGNED APK PATH ALIAS NAME  Align Signed APK using zipalign tool  zipalign -v 4 JARSIGNED APK FILE PATH ZIPALIGNED SIGNED APK FILE PATH    STEP 1    Generate Keystore file     keytool -genkey -v -keystore YOUR KEYSTORE NAME keystore -alias ALIAS NAME -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000   Example   keytool -genkey -v -keystore id keystore -alias MySignedApp -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000   keystore password   yourApp 123 key password        yourApp 123  CMD O P  D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp gt keytool -genkey -v -keystore id keystore  -alias MySignedApp -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 Enter keystore password  Re-enter new password  What is your first and last name     Unknown    MySignedApp Sample What is the name of your organizational unit     Unknown    Information Technology What is the name of your organization     Unknown    MySignedApp Demo What is the name of your City or Locality     Unknown    Mumbai What is the name of your State or Province     Unknown    Maharashtra What is the two-letter country code for this unit     Unknown    IN Is CN MySignedApp Demo  OU Information Technology  O MySignedApp Demo  L Mumbai  ST Maharashtra  C IN corr ect     no    y  Generating 2 048 bit RSA key pair and self-signed certificate  SHA256withRSA  with a validity of 10  000 days         for  CN MySignedApp Demo  OU Information Technology  O MySignedApp Demo  L Mumbai  ST Maharashtra   C IN Enter key password for  lt MySignedApp gt           RETURN if same as keystore password   Re-enter new password   Storing id keystore   D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp gt      STEP 2    Sign your app with your private keystore using jarsigner     jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore   KEYSTORE FILE PATH UNSIGNED APK PATH ALIAS NAME   Example  jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp id keystore D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp MySignedAppS1-release-unsigned apk id   CMD O P  D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp gt jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA - digestalg SHA1 -keystore D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp id keystore D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp MySignedAppS1-release-unsigned apk id --- ect Enter Passphrase for keystore     adding  META-INF MANIFEST MF    adding  META-INF --- SF    adding  META-INF --- RSA   signing  AndroidManifest xml              signing  classes dex   signing  lib commons-codec-1 6 jar   signing  lib armeabi libkonyjsvm so jar signed   Warning  No -tsa or -tsacert is provided and this jar is not timestamped  Without a timestamp  users may not be able to validate this jar after the signer certificate s expiration date  2044-02-07  or after an y future revocation date   D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp gt      Verify that your APK is signed     jarsigner -verify -verbose -certs JARSIGNED APK FILE PATH   Example  jarsigner -verify -verbose -certs MySignedAppS1-release-unsigned apk   CMD O P  D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp gt jarsigner -verify -verbose -certs MySignedAppS1-release-unsigned apk  s   signature was verified   m   entry is listed in manifest   k   at least one certificate was found in keystore   i   at least one certificate was found in identity scope  jar verified   Warning  This jar contains entries whose certificate chain is not validated  This jar contains signatures that does not include a timestamp  Without a timestamp  users may not b e able to validate this jar after the signer certificate s expiration date  2044-02-09  or after any  future revocation date   D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp gt    STEP 3    Align the final APK package using zipalign     zipalign -v 4 JARSIGNED APK FILE PATH ZIPALIGNED SIGNED APK FILE PATH WITH NAME ofSignedAPK   Example  zipalign -v 4 D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp MySignedAppS1-release-unsigned apk D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp MySignedApp apk   CMD O P  D  Android android-sdk build-tools 19 1 0 gt zipalign -v 4 D  ru ru doc Signed apk MySignedApp 28 09 16  prod playstore MySignedAppS1-release-unsigned apk D  ru ru doc Signed apk MySignedApp 28 09 16 prod  playstore MySignedApp apk Verifying alignment of D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp MySignedApp apk   4        4528613 classes dex  OK - compressed   5656594 lib commons-codec-1 6 jar  OK - compressed   5841869 lib armeabi libkonyjsvm so  OK - compressed  Verification succesful  D  Android android-sdk build-tools 19 1 0 gt      Verify that your APK is Aligned successfully     zipalign -c -v 4 YOUR APK PATH   Example  zipalign -c -v 4 D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp MySignedApp apk   CMD O P  D  Android android-sdk build-tools 19 1 0 gt zipalign -c -v 4 D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp MySignedApp apk Verifying alignment of D  ru SignedBuilds MySignedApp MySignedApp apk   4       4453984 res drawable zoomout png  OK   4454772 res layout tabview xml  OK - compressed   4455243 res layout wheel item xml  OK - compressed   4455608 resources arsc  OK   4470161 classes dex  OK - compressed   5597923 lib commons-codec-1 6 jar  OK - compressed   5783198 lib armeabi libkonyjsvm so  OK - compressed  Verification succesful  D  Android android-sdk build-tools 19 1 0 gt    Note   The verify command is just to check whether APK is built and signed correctly   References   signing-manually  androidapk-code-signing-process   I hope this will help one and all

User · Answer

For users of IntelliJ IDEA or Android Studio make these steps    From the menu Build Generate signed APK   You need to create a keystore path  From the dialog click Create new  You will create a jks file that includes your keys  Select folder  define a password  So your keystore ok    Create new key by for your application by using alias  key password  your name etc    Click next    From the dialog either select Proguard or not   Your signed APK file is ready   Help file  https   www jetbrains com idea webhelp generate-signed-apk-wizard html

User · Answer

The manual is clear enough  Please specify what part you get stuck with after you work through it  I d suggest   https   developer android com studio publish app-signing html  Okay  a small overview without reference or eclipse around  so leave some space for errors  but it works like this   Open your project in eclipse Press right-mouse -   tools  android tools   -   export signed application  apk   Go through the wizard  Make a new key-store  remember that password Sign your app Save it etc    Also  from the link      Compile and sign with Eclipse ADT      If you are using Eclipse with the ADT   plugin  you can use the Export Wizard   to export a signed  apk  and even   create a new keystore  if necessary     The Export Wizard performs all the   interaction with the Keytool and   Jarsigner for you  which allows you to   sign the package using a GUI instead   of performing the manual procedures to   compile  sign  and align  as discussed   above  Once the wizard has compiled   and signed your package  it will also   perform package alignment with   zip align  Because the Export Wizard   uses both Keytool and Jarsigner  you   should ensure that they are accessible   on your computer  as described above   in the Basic Setup for Signing       To create a signed and aligned  apk in   Eclipse          Select the project in the Package Explorer and select File     Export    Open the Android folder  select Export Android Application  and click   Next       The Export Android Application wizard now starts  which will guide   you through the process of signing   your application  including steps for   selecting the private key with which   to sign the  apk  or creating a new   keystore and private key     Complete the Export Wizard and your application will be compiled    signed  aligned  and ready for   distribution

User · Answer

Don t worry     Follow these below steps and you will get your signed  apk file  I was also worry about that  but these step get ride me off from the frustration  Steps to sign your application    Export the unsigned package    Right click on the project in Eclipse -  Android Tools -  Export Unsigned Application Package  like here we export our GoogleDriveApp apk to Desktop   Sign the application using your keystore and the jarsigner tool  follow below steps    Open cmd-- change directory where your  jarsigner exe  exist  like here in my system it exist at  C  Program Files Java jdk1 6 0 17 bin   Now enter belwo command in cmd      jarsigner -verbose -keystore c  users android debug keystore   c  users pir fahim Desktops GoogleDriveApp apk my keystore alias   It will ask you to provide your password  Enter Passphrase for keystore  It will sign your apk To verify that the signing is successful you can run      jarsigner -verify c  users pir fahim Desktops GoogleDriveApp apk    It should come back with  jar verified   Method 2  If you are using eclipse with ADT  then it is simple to compiled  signed  aligned  and ready the file for distribution what you have to do just follow this steps    File   Export    Export android application  Browse-- select your project  Next-- Next   These steps will compiled  signed and zip aligned your project and now you are ready to distribute your project or upload at Google Play store

User · Answer

I ran into this problem and was solved by checking the min sdk version in the manifest  It was set to 15  ICS   but my phone was running 10 Gingerbread

[android] How to sign an android apk file