[android] How to view AndroidManifest.xml from APK file?

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?

Aapt2, included in the Android SDK build tools can do this - no third party tools needed.

$(ANDROID_SDK)/build-tools/28.0.3/aapt2 d --file AndroidManifest.xml app-foo-release.apk

Starting with build-tools v29 you have to add the command xmltree:

$(ANDROID_SDK)/build-tools/29.0.3/aapt2 d xmltree --file AndroidManifest.xml app-foo-release.apk

You can use apkanalyzer, the command-line version of the APK Analyzer bundled with the Android SDK. Just execute the following command on the CLI:

/path/to/android-sdk/tools/bin/apkanalyzer manifest print /path/to/app.apk

You only have to replace /path/to/android-sdk with the correct path to your version of the Android SDK, and /path/to/app.apk with the path to your APK file.

Another useful (Python-based) tool for this is Androguard, using its axml sub-command:

androguard axml my.apk -o my.xml

This extracts and decodes the app manifest in one go. Unlike apktool this doesn't unpack anything else.

In this thread, Dianne Hackborn tells us we can get info out of the AndroidManifest using aapt.

I whipped up this quick unix command to grab the version info:

aapt dump badging my.apk | sed -n "s/.*versionName='\([^']*\).*/\1/p"

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.

There is an online tool that lets you upload an APK It decompiles it and finally lets you to download a zip with all sources, manifest XML file and so on decompiled, all of that without having to install any program on your computer: http://www.javadecompilers.com/apk

Also if you wish just to check on some params you can, by their UI

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.

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]\

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.

Android Studio can now show this. Go to Build > Analyze APK... and select your apk. Then you can see the content of the AndroidManifset file.

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

The AXMLParser and APKParser.jar can also do the job, you can see the link. AXMLParser

To decode the AndroidManifest.xml file using axmldec:

axmldec -o output.xml AndroidManifest.xml

or

axmldec -o output.xml AndroidApp.apk

You can use this command: save to file AndroidManifest.txt

aapt dump xmltree gmail.apk AndroidManifest.xml > AndroidManifest.txt